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HELPS TO EDUCATION. 



a 



7? 

HELPS TO EDUCATION 



HOMES OF OUR COUNTRY. 



WARREN BURTON, 

AUTHOR OF " THE DISTRICT SCHOOL AS IT WAS." 



BOSTON : 

CROSBY AND NICHOLS, 

117, Washington Street. 

1863. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, 

BY WARREN BURTON, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



BOSTON : 

PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON & SON, 

5, Water Sti'.eet. 



PREFACE. 



The most difficult as well as the most important work 
on earth is the wise education of children. Parents, 
will you kindly accept the following counsels from a 
sincere and earnestly devoted friend ? May they make 
good, in some appreciable ^gree, the homely Saxon 
word placed first on the titlepage ! 

Opportunity is now taken to explain to friends, that, 
during the last two years, infirm health has kept me 
from the educational field in which I had been exclu- 
sively working for ten years before ; or rather it has 
prevented me, to my keen regret, from the more 
urgent duty of devoting myself, in some active way, 
to our present momentous cause. In the mean time, 
as strength would allow, and with many intermis- 
sions, this volume has been under preparation. It is, 
I trust, a worthy service of the Christian patriot to 
provide, even in a small measure, against future adver- 
sities, public and private, in our beloved country, by 
laboring at those more hidden sources of good and 
evil which lie in the shadow of its homes. 

W. B. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Lecture on Parental Responsibility 3 

Lecture on Government, Misgovern:ment, and 

No Government in the Family ..... 27 

Lecture on the Management of the Selfhood 65 

Passages from a Lecture 115 

I. Gifts 117 

II. Bad Companionsliip 120 

III. Irritability of Temper 123 

IV. Children at Table 127 

Suggestions on the Discipline of the Observ- 
ing Faculties 135 

A Letter from the Agent of the Massachu- 
setts Board of Education 274 

Topics of Religious Education 277 

The First Knowledge of the Creator. . . . 279 

The First and Great Commandment 293 



VIU CONTENTS. 

Page. 

The Child's First Ideas of Jesus 335 

The Bible 344 

Notes 357 

Index 359 



Note. — The general heads of this volume hardly give 
a fair view of its contents. The Index, at the close, shows 
the items of interest to be exceedingly numerous, and of 
great variety. 



LECTURE 



ON 



PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 



NOTE. 



The statements and considerations in the following Lecture are 
of the most serious moment : indeed, their importance can hardly 
be overrated. Yet the hackneyed title and topic, it is feared, will 
at once affect ihany with a sense of dulness and discouragement, 
and cause them to hasten beyond to what may seem more inviting. 
In anticipation of this, a special and earnest request is ventured, 
that such persons would at least make an attempt at reading. The 
old subject is here presented in a manner somewhat new ; and it 
is humbly hoped that the reader will be interested and impressed 
beyond what might be expected from so trite a theme. If the peru- 
sal could be made without haste, so as to permit to words their 
fullest force, the little longer time taken would hardly be regretted. 
This preliminary discourse, so read, would almost necessarily better 
prepare the mind for the practical instructions which follow. 



LECTUEE 



ON 



PAEENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 



rilHE chief purpose of this world is the forma- 
-*- tion and development of man. Here he not 
only commences existence, but prepares for an- 
other world. In the present condition of things, 
this preparation is difficult : many think it to be 
doubtful. The human being, as now consti- 
tuted, is, indeed, fearfully as well as wonder- 
fully made. He is a mysterious system^ of 
capabilities and possibilities. He is capable 
of good, and capable of evil. He may be hap- 
py, or he may be unhappy ; indeed, exceedingly 
joyous in felicity, or at the utmost extremity of 
wretchedness. He can answer to the various 
epithets of virtue and piety given in the Sacred 
Word ; or he may make applicable to himself, in 
different degrees, one and another, and even 
many, if not all, of those terms by which sin 
against God, crime against man, and the depra- 



4: PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 

vity of the heart, are expressed. To particular- 
ize : First, as a little child, or the larger youth, 
in the family of his birth, he may be a precious 
delight by his dispositions, so ajffectionate and 
generous, and, by his manners, so gentle and 
winning. In school he may be studious and or- 
derly ; on the play- ground, ingenuous, sweet- 
tempered, and beloved. Next, as an apprentice 
or a clerk, he may be respectful, diligent, honest. 
Then, as a neighbor and a citizen, he may be 
upright, obliging, peaceable, public-spirited. As 
a husband and a father, he may make his home 
the best emblem and image of very heaven. 
Toward the Divine Being he may be reverent 
and loving, deeply but cheerfully pious. In 
short, he has within his capacities that by 
which, the Holy Spirit helping, he shall be 
able to love God with all his heart, and his 
neighbor as himself. This world may be better 
and happier for his single life in it, and heaven 
at length be more blessed for his single added 
presence there. Such is the human being capa- 
ble of becoming, if he shall be properly cared 
for, wisely trained, adequately educated. 

But now to particularize the opposite capa- 
bilities and possibilities : This same human in- 
fant has that within him, by which, in his 



PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 

parental abode, he may be ill - tempered and 
disobedient ; a very furnace of selfish passions, 
consuming his own best good, and the peace 
of his nearest, truest friends. At school he 
may be idle, unruly, impudent, rebellious ; on 
the play-ground, unfair, testy, rough, vulgar, 
profane. Let him become an apprentice at 
a trade, or a clerk in a store ; and what then ? 
— unfaithful, disobedient, disrespectful, truth- 
less, rakish. He may purloin from his em- 
ployer to pay for finery, dainties, and other 
extravagances. At length, he may sink into 
dissipation and various dissoluteness, and early 
die, — a human ruin. But suppose him appa- 
rently to recover from his sensual and spend- 
thrift habits. He may now enter the field of 
business for himself, to do what ? To cheat his 
customers, to live on others' losses. Again : as 
a neighbor, he may be rude, crabbed, disobli- 
ging, unfeeling. As a citizen, he may possess 
scarcely a single spark of public spirit. Self — 
hard, dark, unheavenly self — is the centre and 
the circumference of all the hopes, fears, aspi- 
rations, activities, and satisfactions of his life. 
But his home, — should he enter on married and 
parental life, — what the possibilities here ? Ah ! 
by sharp -spoken petulance, or lowering sullen- 



6 PAEENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 

iiess, or by fierce outbursts of anger, by nig- 
gardliness or tyranny, by intemperance and other 
depraved indulgences, this choicest, innermost 
spot may be made like unto that outer place of 
darkness, and weeping, and gnashing of teeth. 

Furthermore : standing beside man's infancy, 
and contemplating the future, we may in all 
truth affirm, that possibly he shall plunge into 
direst crime, — shall steal, rob, murder. Yes, 
that little being, who has, as yet, not entertained 
a purpose, a feeling, or a thought of wrong ; 
who seems, in his present weakness and inno- 
cence, utterly incapable of inflicting any sort of 
pain on others, — that now absolutely harmless 
creature may, at twenty or thirty years of age, 
enter your window in the darkness of midnight, 
and, during the helplessness of your sleep, grope 
his way to your goods or your money; and 
should you perchance be aroused, and attempt 
to defend your property, he may stab or shoot 
you dead on the spot ; then murder your ago- 
nized, shrieking wife, to prevent her alarming 
the neighborhood at the instant, or identifying 
his person afterward as the perpetrator of the 
crime. Ah ! language fails to depict the horri- 
ble atrocities which lie within the capabilities 

and possibilities of the man. This world may 

/' 



PARENTAL RESPOXSIBILITY. 7 

be much worse for his having lived in it; and 
the world to come, — the all-seeing Eye alone 
can trace his path, and discern his state, in its 
labyrinthine and endless depths. Along such a 
line of tendencies, along such a course of im- 
morality, vice, crime, enormity, or, at leasu, 
through some one portion or another of it, this 
human infant is likely to run, should he be 
neglected, — should he not be properly trained, 
wisely, adequately educated. Is it not a mo- 
mentous alternative? There is alarm, there is 
terror, in the very thought of the contingency. 

But this is God's own child. Does he leave 
him unprovided for, and to his own poor, feeble 
self? Oh, no ! his providence is most faithful. 
Out of all the rest of the world's inhabitants he 
provides one man and one woman, who are to 
be the very first, the long-continuing, and the 
most responsible guardians under himself Of 
all finite beings, they are nearest in place, near- 
est in blood, and nearest in affection. In them, 
indeed, has been implanted an instinctive, pecu- 
liar love, not primarily as an especial gratifica- 
tion to them, but as insuring fidelity to the 
paternal Creator, and to this his off'spring. 
Thus to the earthly father and mother is com- 
mitted the most dependent and the most im- 



8 PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 

pressible of all animated things. They have 
in their hands the beginnings of a boundless 
destiny, folded up as in a bud. They have 
in charge the wondrous, the auspicious open- 
ing. The Lord God Almighty calls and sets 
apart these two to this duty, as much as if he 
pointed down to them with a visible finger, 
and spoke in articulate thunder in the pre- 
sence of an assembled world. It is the highest, 
the most holy, calling of their lives. They 
are to be the surest of all protectors, the 
earliest and the most influential of all educators. 
They are to fit this being for noblest virtue and 
loving usefulness in the present life. They are 
to act sooner and to do more than all others to 
fit him for the life to come. They are not only 
to teach and train, but to rule as in a realm. 
God's vicegerents, they are seated on the strong- 
est throne beneath all the skies : this throne is 
the earliest and tenderest heart, the first, sweet, 
enduring love, of a little child. If faithful to 
their gentle sceptre, all the armies of earth, all 
the hosts of hell, cannot move them therefrom : 
they are next in power to the Almighty. Thus, 
more than all others beneath the heavens, they 
are the arbiters of time and eternity to this im- 
mortal spirit. Such is the responsibility of 
parentage. 



PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 9 

Now, can it be, that in this age of unparalleled 
mental light, and amid all its various Christian 
institutions, these God-commissioned guardians, 
guides, and rulers shall not understand their 
office, and feel their obligations ? Can it be that 
tliey shall not be faithful ? 

Let us see. In human affairs, knowledge 
and skill are considered necessary to success. 
Preparation and qualification are requisites well 
appreciated all the world over. Who thinks 
of entering on the chosen avocation for a live- 
lihood or for usefulness, without forethought 
and preparation? Let us glance at a few in- 
stances. Suppose one of the so-called learned 
professions : what years has the aspiring youth 
been qualifying himself for this ! What book 
after book has he plodded through, what 
expense incurred, and possibly what severe 
privations endured, to place himself at the com- 
mencement of his favorite, life - long career ! 
Another devotes himself to some department of 
the arts. Whatever his genius, he most pa- 
tiently persists and works on long, before he 
reaches the lofty mark of his burning desire. 
Still another gives himself to some one of the 
material interests. He spends years upon the 
soil, learning how crops and cattle are matured. 



10 PARENTAL EESPONSIBILITY. 

and turned to best account; or in a shop or 
manufactory, to obtain the craft of wielding 
tools or of tending machinerj whereby inani- 
mate matter is moulded into forms of use ; or in 
some mercantile warehouse or common store, 
acquiring a knowledge of such productions, and 
a facility in selling them. Indeed, from the 
highest profession down to the lowest handicraft, 
there is preparation. Custom requires, necessity 
commands it. Without it, unless there be ex- 
traordinary talent, there must be failure of suc- 
cess. The very child understands this fact, and 
expects, as he grows up, to leave, it may be, 
the dear home of his birth, to learn the occupa- 
tion of his life. 

Again : consider a young woman. She is a ■ 
distinct and providential part in the great order 
of things. She is to take a commanding posi- 
tion in the passing but momentous procession of 
human lives. She also has been spending years 
in preparation for the future. She has passed 
tiirough the schools, studying at least the com- 
mon branches, and perhaps the various higher 
matters in literature and science, — Latin, French, 
and the abstruser mathematics. She must be 
an adept at pencil- drawing, and also painting. 
Moreover, for months, it may be for years, she 



PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. ll 

is a pupil at the piano, that she may touch the 
keys with even respectable skill. Perchance, 
she is versed in household affairs ; at least, well 
understands general arrangements and the more 
delicate mysteries of the culinary art. With all 
these acquirements, if there be judicious regard 
to time, talent, taste, and life's important duties, 
no fault can be found. 

At length, such a young man and such a 
young woman give themselves to each other in 
sacred marriage. Here is a new home. Home ! 
it is earth's most precious place. It is that one 
spot which heaven most nearly touches, and 
which its messengers soonest and oftenest visit. 
The spirit of God broods over the home. The 
Creative Power descends, and there is a new 
human being; something utterly unknown to 
time, space, or finite intelligence, before ; some- 
thing distinct from all other existences that 
ever were, or will be ; something the exact like 
of which is not, and never will be, in the whole 
universe of God. It is committed to the charge 
of this twain. From a thousand millions these 
two are separated by the Creating Hand, and 
ordained as primary and especial ministers, to 
keep, and to keep most safely; to educate, and 
to educate most wisely ; to bless, and to bless 



12 PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 

more than all the rest of the world, particularly 
in the first years, — this creature of the Most 
High. 

Well, those who have spent so long a period 
carefully fitting themselves for occupations which 
have to do with chance-coming strangers, and 
which operate simply on the more general needs 
of family and social life, — they, surely, cannot 
but have qualified themselves for this duty, one 
nearest to the hands, most solemn to the con- 
science, and closest, dearest to the heart. What 
books must they have read, what treatises 
studied ! How have they consulted the experi-i 
ence of living persons around ! How have they 
humbly sought wisdom from above ! If they ever 
did pray, they must have earnestly supplicated 
now. Tliey cannot but be ready to do time's 
noblest work on earth's loftiest, lordliest pro- 
duct. What ! are they not Heaven's own angels 
embodied in the flesh ? Alas, alas ! that young 
father and that young mother have spent not a 
year, not a month, not a week, not a day, not an , 
hour, — they have not read a book nor made 
an inquiry, — in preparation. Some foresight 
and provision for the merest physical necessities 
make the only exception. They take the cen- i 
tral instrument of the grand orchestra of crea- } 



PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 13 

tion, framed and toned by the Infinite Artist 
into almost utterly unskilled hands. What can 
ensue but that it should be loosened or strained 
into discords, or even shattered to ruin, and 
scattered, as it were piecemeal, to the world's 
tempests ? 

This may be looked upon with some degree 
of indulgence, considering the thoughtlessness 
and rushing impulses of youth. But these pa- 
rents go on to more mature and sober life, and 
child after child — it may be, numerously — is 
at length intrusted to their care, with immea- 
surable destinies rooted in the earliest and most 
impressible years ; and yet nothing is intention- 
ally and specifically done to repair that lack of 
fitness with which they assumed the parental 
office in the beginning. Is it any wonder that 
families are what we so often see, — misrule at 
the head, and misdeeds in the members ? How 
can it be otherwise than that boyhood should be 
ill-tempered and disobedient at home ; disorderly 
at school ; contentious, unmannerly, vulgar, and 
profane in the street ; and perhaps take early 
steps toward dissipation and ruin ? What more 
likely than that sister girlhood should grow up 
self-willed, petulant, vain, frivolous, and self- 
idolizing? Is it any wonder that communities 



14 PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 

are shattered by p'etty self-interests, and imbit- 
tered by scandals ; and that ordinary business, 
in which Christian justice and kindness should 
prevail, is one hot war of struggling, yea, crush- 
ing antagonisms ? 

There are supposed to be thirty thousand 
human beings, once innocent babes at the ma- 
ternal bosom, now shut up within the granite 
walls and iron doors of the prisons of our country. 
Is this any wonder, when we take into view the 
homes from which they came, and the pupils of 
other homes among whom they fell ? Is it any 
wonder that as many more, quite or almost as 
wicked, are yet abroad, desolating society ? Is 
it any wonder that all around, and in every 
grade of life, there are low sensualities, fiery 
passions, destructive collisions, and all the mul- 
tiform shapes and methods and innumerable 
complications of unheavenly selfishness ? Yes, 
yes : why should not all these things be ? for 
who puts the rush of causes back from their 
inevitable efifects ? Oh ! when I perceive, in so 
many directions, intelligent, reasoning, interest- 
seeking men and women, inquiring into and 
clearly understanding and surely acting on the 
philosophy of cause and effect in all the concerns 
of life but that of the right care and culture of 



PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 15 

those nearest and dearest to them in their homes, 
it seems a strange, unaccountable fatuity, a 
stupendous insanity. Behold, notwithstanding 
countless instances in the past, and numerous 
cases in the present and all around, admonish, 
and that even terrific gulfs of ruin close by 
send up the wail of those perishing down in 
them ; notwithstanding God's Holy Word majes- 
tically commands and tenderly pleads, and his re- 
tributive providences awfully warn, — how many, 
by their own direct example, incite their chil- 
dren, or at least, by their neglect, permit them, 
to approach, step by step, the brink of the deep, 
dark, fatal abysses ; yea, and perhaps they stand 
by, apathetically, senselessly, and see them drop, 
one by one, in ! Ye saints and angels, who gaze 
down in pity or amazement, is not this a mad- 
ness ? 

Consider the other various interests of life : 
how numerous the appliances to promote their 
advancement ! What institutions, books, periodi- 
cals, meetings, discussions ! As for reading, the 
publications come, the whole year through, al- 
most as thickly as do the flowers in the few 
vegetative months ; and some of them rival, in 
richness and beauty, the very flowers. How 
bright the centre-table with its gilded volumes ! 



16 PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 

In the houses of the wealthy is the large and 
various library ; and, in the hands of all, the 
multifarious newspaper. From the unwholesome 
places of teeming brains creeps that vermin, 
that reptile literature, which steals into the ' 
hands of brothers, thence into those of sisters, 
and into the hearts of both, leaving vileness — 
it may be, poison — there. But in how few of 
these houses, take the land through, from the 
lowest to the highest, do we find a single volume 
teaching the Heaven-commissioned heads of the 
household how to train up their children in 
the way they should go 1 There are such books, 
there are periodicals, for this purpose ; but the 
booksellers affirm, that of all the works of com- 
mon, practical value, they have the least call 
for treatises on family discipline. 

What gatherings all over the land, for discus-^ 
sion, knowledge, and impulse in respect to the 
increase and management of property, and the 
multiplying of facilities for business ! What ex- 
hibitions, emulations, successes, and applauses ! 
There are agricultural fairs and cattle -shows ; 
and the land glows with culture, and gladdens 
in the beauty of flowers and the ripeness of 
fruits, and proudly swells with the largeness 
and fatness of kine. 



PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 17 

Of conventions, there are other than those of 
patriotism and partisanship : there are horse 
conventions, and even poultry conventions ; and 
men and women, and beauty and fashion, collect 
around in multitudes to behold and admire. 
Our most gifted orators are invited on such 
occasions, and they sound their most silvery 
eloquence in the cause of brutes and vegetables. 
But who ever heard of a similar gathering of 
fathers and mothers, in loving ardor and con- 
scientious anxiety, to learn from each other, by 
interchange of ideas, by the discussion of ques- 
tions, and by the hearing of committee-reports, 
how to rear and educate noble sons and daugh- 
ters ; how to prevent sons from descending, as 
so many have done, beneath the brute ; how to 
prevent daughters from coming to be not much 
better than inactive vegetables, — yea, than very 
weeds ; how to make the infant a fully developed 
man, worthy to be earth's powerful lord, and 
heaven's blessed heir?"^ 

* The maternal associations which have been instituted in many 
churches are no exceptions to what is intimated above. These are 
confined to one sex, are of limited numbers generally, and of vacil- 
lating and feeble operation. So I have been informed by many 
pastors. The meetings for educational discussion, mentioned toward 
the close of this volume, had not been started when this lecture was 
first written ; and they are now but an experiment and a begin- 
ning. 

2 



18 PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 

In case of physical defect, how anxious are 
parents for a remedy I Let there be only a stain 
marring personal beauty, and they would apply 
steel or jBre, with all the pain, if thus the blemish 
could be taken out, and no scar left. How 
little is thought of the stain made by bad com- 
panionship and example on the soul ! I knew a 
mother who travelled a hundred and fifty miles 
in the cold, cheerless winter, carrying her infant 
for a distinguished surgeon to set aright its dis- 
torted foot ; and who then journeyed back again, 
all unaccompanied, except by strangers, to an 
impoverished home. Is there any mother who 
would not do the same, or a father who would 
not give his last dollar, to save a child from life- 
long lameness? But with what moral distor- 
tions do children come into the world, and these 
inherited from parents themselves, or more re- 
mote progenitors ! yet how few parents are 
anxious about, or even at all notice, such obli- 
quities ! Take these obliquities in the begin- 
ning, how soft and pliable to heaven- directed 
management ! Let them alone, they become 
crookednesses, gnarled, knotted, enduring, per- 
haps hideous to the sight, and an anguish to 
the bosom, of that community which is obliged 
to hold them in its midst. 



PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 19 

But some reply, " We have been faithful to 
our children : loe have diligently sought and 
practised the best methods of culture." But 
have you done all your duty? Your children 
are still insecure, unless your neighbors are as 
faithful as yourselves. You must not rest till 
all around partake of your spirit, and co-operate 
in your action. Society is like one great jellied 
mass : touch but a single spot, and it trembles 
throughout. Is your son a pupil at the public 
school? Is he a member of the street-commu- 
nity of boys ? If so, he is every day exposed to 
the contagion of vice. Unless his ears shall be 
stopped like the deaf, he cannot but hear vul- 
garity and profanity ; catch words and ideas, too, 
which shall sink into his memory, and infuse a 
stain into his soul, which perhaps, through the 
eternal ages, may not be cleansed out. Your 
daughter may be as pure as a snow-flake just 
from the airy cloud, or as the sweetest blossom 
of the spring ; yet she is surrounded and endan- 
gered by influences that may defile and deform 
the crystalline threads, and the fresh, delicate 
bloom, of her soul. There are those in polished 
society, and perhaps altogether unsuspected, 
whose very presence is almost a poison. Ah ! 
whose son or daughter is safe with the present 



20 PAEENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 

morals of cities, towns, and villages ? Yet who 
is alarmed at this condition of things, or seeks 
to alarm others ? Let a pestilence, let the cho- 
lera, sweep along the land, and approach, day 
by day, nearer and nearer, and what consterna- 
tion ! How the authorities bestir themselves ! 
How cellars and drains are looked into, searched 
closely, and cleansed ! Not the speck of a de- 
caying vegetable must remain. Indeed, were 
some offensive matter unexpectedly discovered 
in a neighbor's yard or in the contiguous street, 
sending its effluvia into the premises of the most 
aristocratic gentleman, and, if the laborer could 
not be hurried to its removal, he would himself 
seize the spade with his own soft, white hands, 
— yes, so would the mother of his children,.! 
however delicate and high - bred, — and dig a ' 
pit, and thrust the nuisance in, and bury it up, , 
to save the dear ones from the pest-inviting at- i 
mosphere. But the elements of a moral cholera ' 
are as thick in the great cities as the smoke and ' 
soot that lower over their roofs : indeed, they 
pervade every town and village of our land. 
But who stirs a limb or utters a word toward > | 
an active and determined purification ? 

The angel of death often snatches little chil- 
dren away to the care and training of heavenly 



PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 21 

teachers ; while infatuated parents put forth all 
their puny strength, and shriek out supplica- 
tions, to prevent this most blessed rescue from 
their own destroying hands : but let the demons 
from the bottomless pit come stealing up, come 
rushing up, and there is no alarm, and they 
seduce and destroy at their pleasure. 

How long shall the proper care of infancy, 
the nurture of childhood, and the guidance of 
youth, be deemed a small, petty business, and 
utterly unworthy special consideration, amid 
what are called, or what are fancied to be, the 
great affairs of life, — money - making, dress, 
dress-displaying, and pleasure-seeking? A small 
matter, a petty matter, is it, — the early disposi- 
tions, tendencies, and habits of the human being, 
which unfold into angelic beauty, or burst out 
into horrible deformity ! Yet the parents who 
thus feel and believe, or at any rate who neglect 
the higher nature, call in, when a child is seized 
with sickness, the most reliable physician within 
their means; and, learned and eminent as he 
may be, he stoops to the small business of feel- 
ing the infantile pulse, of counting throb by 
throb, and of keenly inspecting the color of the 
tongue. An unusual tinge upon the skin is then 
of consequence : it is a symptom. But be as- 



22 PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 

sured, that there are little things, yea, least 
things, in the earliest character, too generally 
unheeded, which are also symptoms, — spiritual 
symptoms ; and, to the wise and watchful edu- 
cator, they are most fearfully premonitory. 
Little and belittling is it, — the charge of the 
chief and central organism of this lower creation, 
around and for which the wheels of nature turn 
and its springs play in all their mightiness and 
minuteness, and for which wondrous providences 
have been displayed, and even nature-rending 
miracles wrought ! — the charge of it, that it 
may be unfolded into beautiful order, and grand 
and joyous activities, and be made to sing for 
ever in unison with heavenly spheres ! 

For this immortal one, the spiritual mansions 
were builded, glorious, boundless, eternal ; yea, 
for him the third heavens may have been lifted 
up, nearest to the light inaccessible. But, alas ! 
through causes, commencing with the earliest 
life ; yea, by the sharp -cutting consequence of 
undirected thought, ungoverned appetites, burn- 
ing passions, and motives yet closer within the 
will and the self-hood, and still more intensely 
ungodly, — he may prepare, year by year, in his 
own mysterious, unfathomable nature, an ever- 
deepening, terrific hell ; and none but the Om- 



PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. 23 

niscient can know when or whether such awful 
industry shall ever stop or pause. To save such 
a being from himself, the Ancient of days, the 
" I am that I am," descended into Immanuel, — 
Jehovah into Jesus. Yea, the most merciful 
Father continues long-suffering and ever-provid- 
ing. Nevertheless, how utterly without avail 
may it be, unless those who receive body and 
soul from his immediate hand and spirit, and are 
left in living freedom, shall fulfil their initiatory, 
far-reaching, superlative part ! 



LECTURE 



ON 



GOVERNMENT, MISGOVERNMENT, AND NO- 
GOVERNMENT IN THE FAMILY. 



NOTE. 



This and the following Lecture were given at first extempo- 
raneously. It was of great importance to make the subject interest- 
ing; for, of all topics presented to the public ear, that of family- 
education seemed to be the most dull and uninviting. It was desi- 
rable to show that there was no lack of life and spirit in it; that, 
while it was of the first moment, it could also be made somewhat 
attractive. Illustrative incidents were, therefore, quite numerously- 
introduced. It was found that those which had been witnessed by 
the lecturer, and especially those in which he himself had borne a 
part, were the most effective on the audience. These Lectures, when 
put on paper for delivery, retained the same characteristics. They 
are now presented in print, much in the same style. The first per- 
sonal pronoun continues to be used where the incidents were really 
of a personal character. This circumstance, it is believed, cannot 
but impart to them a reality and an impressiveness which a more 
abstract, and apparently more modest, method would not have 
afibrded. It is therefore hoped that this individual prominence of 
the writer will not be set down to the account of any thing like 
egotism; for nothing could be further from the truth. The object 
has simply been to come as close to minds and hearts as possible, for 
the sake of doing them good. It may be said here, moreover, once 
for all, that if, anywhere in these productions, the author makes him- 
self personally conspicuous, this is done for the sake of greater 
use or convenience, and not at all for self-exhibition. 



LECTURE 



GOVERNMENT, MISGOVERNMENT, AND NO- 
GOVERNMENT IN THE FAMILY. 



XN the first place, let us understand the grounds 
-*- of parental power and filial submission. It 
is only according to certain laws, certain fixed 
methods of matter and spirit, that the plans of 
the Divine Father can be fulfilled. The human 
being comes into the world in utter ignorance 
of these conditions of welfare. Hence, from 
very birth, he is liable to infringe them and to 
suffer. First, he knows not what will do him 
bodily injury; so he must be forcibly restrained. 
In this simple circumstance of safety begins the 
trial of what is called " government." A child's 
hand is withheld from a sharp knife, or burning 
lamp, or some other destructive agent ; and he is 
thus initiated into submission to a power above 
himself. No one, having the care, would fail to 



28 GOVERNMENT, MISGOVERNMENT, AND 

exercise the due control, in case of positive and 
immediate danger. At this point, however, de- 
termined, inevitable government often ceases. 
From this point there may be continued a course 
of obedience, order, quietness, comfort, peace, 
in the parental and filial relations ; or, on the 
other hand, there may commence long-protracted 
disobedience, disorder, distraction, and any thing 
but peace. The child was made for activity: 
it is absolutely necessary for his growth and 
health ; also for his mental as well as his physi- 
cal development. So, in his instinctive impulses, 
he betakes himself this way or that, and gets 
hold of one thing or another. He knows not 
the tendencies of his conduct in respect to a 
hundred things and movements. The work-bas- 
ket which he might pull from the stand, or the 
plate he might draw from the table, are not 
valuables to him. He knows not why he may 
not touch them, as well as try his strength or 
perceptions on any thing else. He has no idea, 
moreover, of property as belonging to others. 
Why should not he appropriate scissors or mus- 
lin just as others do who have eyes and hands ? 
He is a little, crawling, creeping, picking, pull- 
ing, pushing, climbing, tottling, and tumbling- 
down piece of activity. 



NO-GOVERNMENT IN THE FAMILY. 29 

What is denominated " mischief" in the house- 
hold vocabulary is his work; and this sort of 
industry is really of incalculable profit in his 
education. Nevertheless, he must be permitted 
to go exactly so far, and no farther ; to do 
exactly so much, and no more. He must be 
governed. Authority must be made absolute. 
It must exercise compulsion in all these in- 
stances, just as much as in the case of closely 
threatening physical danger. Then there was 
no hesitation, whatever might be the resistance, 
the angry wilfulness, and even spasmodic con- 
tortions, of the little operator. Begin at the 
earliest, and keep straight on, and it will not 
be difficult, generally, to establish certain rules 
of action with a child, and to make him under- 
stand that these rules must be obeyed the same 
as he obeys the necessity of not touching fire. 
It simply requires watchfulness and firmness. 
Here is a practical illustration which fell under 
my own eye many j^ears ago. A little boy of 
nine months old is making the tour of the room 
on all fours ; stopping at this thing, then at 
that ; tugging at a chair, pushing a cricket, and 
poking along something else; but, coming within 
reach of the bright-headed but black-footed im- 
plements of the fireplace, he stops, and turning 



9 



GOVERNMENT, MISGOVERNMENT, AND 



his little face over his left shoulder, and his 
bright eye up to his mother, who happens to be 
behind at the opposite side of the room, he 
gives her a significant look, as much as to say, 
" I should like to know how those things feel, 
and to use them as you do, mother. But you 
needn't worry : I shall mind you, and not touch 
them." Then, turning back, he pushes his tra- 
vels among unforbidden curiosities. There was 
the same habit of contented obedience to other 
necessary restrictions. Yet this was an uncom- 
monly sickly and nervous child by constitution ; 
one who, by indulgence, would have been a 
screeching, scratching little rebel, driving at 
every thing that was accessible, like thousands 
of others, in spite of anybody or any thing but 
irresistible strength or impenetrable matter. 

In many families, however, rules are made 
only to be overruled or to be unmade. In fact, 
the household sovereign, who does not insist on 
immediate submission to separate and incidental 
commands, is likely at length to fall into a weak- 
ness of character, which will not insist on a 
uniform compliance with what are intended to 
be the fixed statutes of the domestic realm. 
Places for certain things, and times for certain 
doings, which should be regular, — the proper 



NO-GO YERNMEXT IN THE FAMILY. 31 

wliere and when, — get all askew, and are some- 
times lost beyond recovery. Yes, laws, which 
are important to the safety and the life of the 
heedless little ones, will be broken over and 
broken over, until, in consequence, some terrible 
calamity shall smite that home with sadness, or 
even with agonizing bereavement. Such has 
been the occasion of many a fall, breaking the 
limbs ; and many a drowning in the forbidden 
water. 

Sometimes such parents are conscious of 
their error, and, indeed, are even intending re- 
form; but they get no farther toward it than 
intention. Said a mother of this character to 
her pert little boy, " George, I tell you what 
it is : I'm going to turn over a new leaf with 
you." — "Mother," was fhe reply, "I tell you 
what it is : you have been a great while turn- 
ing over that new leaf, but haven't got it over 
yet." Alas ! how many there are, who, like this 
impotent one, are always intending to turn over 
the new leaf, but never get it over ; or, if they 
do, the leaf will not stay put^ but flits back, and 
exhibits the same continually repeated tale of 
weakness, misrule, and discomfort ! 

Here the remark is well in place, that it is 
those children who are ever breaking the laws 



32 GOVERNMENT, MISGOVERNMENT, AND 

of home, or in whose homes there are no laws to 
be broken, who come to be the offensively vi- 
cious and the destructively criminal. Such, of 
a certain class, are often sent on long voyages, 
under strict sea-captainship, to Calcutta or Can- 
ton ,' or on a three-years' cruise to look on and 
see how monstrous whales are taken in the 
South seas or on the North-west coast. But, if 
the unmanageable fellows belong to a certain 
other class, their voyage is a short one, and hard 
enough to bear : it is from the court-room to the 
House of Correction or the State Prison. 

If the child shall be trained to conform to 
established rules, then he will be much more 
ready to obey those commands and injunctions 
arising from exigencies which are ever new. In 
the first place, in a little child's impulses and ac- 
tivities, he is liable to take directions in which 
no established rule of prohibition will come in 
his way. Household affairs are various and 
changing ; and the child must be in the midst, 
with his little eyes to look, his little hands to 
take hold of, and his curiosity to be gratified. 
Well, the prohibition to be given is the first one 
of the kind, and may never occur again. But if 
it is not made, if his hands are not held back, he 
does harm to himself or to something else. If 



NO-GOVERNMENT IN THE FAMILY. 33 

he is not restrained in this particular instance, 
much less can he be restrained in the next ne- 
cessity of the sort : so there will be incalculable 
disorder. Indeed, where a child shall not be 
made implicitly to obey particular commands, it 
will be hard to make him conform to general 
rules. It will be diflScult to establish any gene- 
ral law for him. He has his own will in these 
individual instances, in spite of the authorita- 
tive injunction : what will he care, then, for the 
wish, the word, the command, that he shall not 
go anywhere and do any thing that he chooses ? 
Let it be understood, then, that general rules of 
government begin in special directions which 
are continually made necessary in family life. 
These are as rivets, ever thickening, which keep 
up the bars and barricades of physical and moral 
safety about the home. 

A most successful parental educator, whose 
large family of children did him distinguished 
honor, was once asked the secret of his success. 
The patriarch replied, that he had no great wis- 
dom to boast of, but that he would simply state 
one circumstance which might have had an im- 
portant bearing on the matter. His children 
could never remember the time when they did 
not obey their father and mother. The princi- 

3 



34 GOVERNMENT, MISGOVERNMENT, AND 

pie thus illustrated lias been intimated before, 
and is of infinite importance : it is to begin to 
establish authority over the child as soon as any 
restraint is needed, and to keep this authority 
unbroken. Of course, the occasions must occur 
so early, that no human remembrance could go 
so far back as to reach them. Eecollection, as 
it runs along back to the earliest, to the faintest 
thought, finds a father and a mother who were 
never disobeyed. With such training, and such 
habits thus early formed, there cannot ordina- 
rily come the struggle of the great will with 
the little will, and — what we sometimes hear 
about — the absolute necessity of breaking the 
will. For the will has always been submissive 
and pliant. It has been thoroughly habituated 
to yield to the strong, the knowing, the careful, 
the tender, yet the firm and majestic authority 
which has, from the first, bent above it. How, 
with such wise management, would the child be 
saved from disagreeable memories of the up- 
risings of its own will, and the down-pressings, 
yet unsteady pressures, of the superior will ! 
If the parent only knew it, it is absolute cruelty 
to a child to bring on such conflicts by the let- 
alone policy, and thence to fill the mind with 
ever-living prickles from the keenly vivid re- 
membrance of such passages in child-life. 



XO-GOVERXMENT IN THE FAMILY. 35 

What folly, then, is there in the notion^ often 
expressed, that children should never be made 
to obey until they understand the reason why ! 
When, according to this theory, they are old 
enough to obe}", they are, for the most party quite 
too old to do it according to their own ideas. 
Children draw inferences much earlier than is 
commonly supjposed. Appertaining to this very 
point, here is an illustration which I myself re- 
ceived from a father's own lips. A lady, con- 
versing on the methods of education and the 
proper time of beginning discipline, pointed to 
his own little boy, with the remark^ '^ Such 
children are not old enough to mind." After 
she had gone, the father gave the child some 
trivial direction ; and he straightened up his bit 
of a body, and turned up his tiny face, w^ith a 
sort of newly-felt consequence, and exclaimed, 
" Father, I'm not old enough to mind ! " 

By a glance at the methods of God in intro-. 
ducing his children into the world ; at his wise 
and beautiful laws appertaining to the com- 
mencement and the progress of the human facul- 
ties, — the weakest reason, one might think, 
would perceive the course of duty. See how 
things have been pre-arranged ! A child is put 
into the hands of the parent in baby and total 



Q 



6 GOVERNMENT, MISGOYERNMENT, AND 



weakness both of body and mind ; and this, that 
authority may not be deferred, but, on the con- 
trary, be most firmly established, at the earliest 
activities of life. How beautifully adapted is 
one thing to the other ! An infantile lack of 
animal strength is set over against an infantile 
ignorance of mind and a blind impulsiveness of 
wdll. The feeble creature is not only entirely 
in the keeping, but under the absolute control, 
of his authoritative friends. At first, they can 
hold him as with the strength of a single nerve. 
Being present and observing, they can restrain 
him from any ordinary danger. But they ac- J 
quire a power over him beyond that of muscular 
strength : deeper and more subtle causes affect 
his will, and lead him to submit. There is a 
reverence, a commingling of fear and love. Be- 
sides this, there is a sort of sentiment of duty. 
He soon begins to feel that he should, as well as 
that he must, yield obedience. Here, indeed, is 
the first dawning of conscience. Then comes 
in habit. From his earliest recollection, he has 
been accustomed to yield to this authority; and, 
if his governors and guardians have been faith- 
ful, it is, at length, with him as it is with most 
good citizens in regard to the laws of the State : 
there is no thought or wish to violate them. 



NO-GOVERNMENT IN THE FAMILY. 37 

Let the habit of obedience be thoroughly con- 
firmed, and the child, who at first needed painful 
compulsion, will afterwards want only rational, 
tender, but unwavering guidance. The power 
of parents, and of their coadjutors around, to- 
gether with reverence and an unfolding con- 
science within his soul, all conspire to make 
him a peaceful subject of the first and most 
sacred empire on earth, — that of the home. 
Now, could such a state of things be brought 
about there, how obedient, respectful, and order- 
ly would grow up the communities of youth in 
the school, of manhood in the neighborhood, and 
of citizenship in the town and the state ! But 
it is not always so ; and why ? Because these 
first rulers, these most responsible of all mon- 
archs, do not faithfully perform their duty. 
They do not designedly neglect ; but they are 
inadvertently delinquent. Indeed, many, who 
well understand the nature of their responsibili- 
ties, are ignorant of the true methods of meet- 
ing them. Instinct may impel, tender parental 
affection may prompt, them to be faithful ; but, 
after all, family government is a science and an 
art, and they have not the endowment. There 
are natural gifts about it, as there are in the 
government of a school or of a country. Some 



38 GOVERNMENT, MISGOYERNMENT, AND 

have them, and they can hardly help governing. 
Others (and they seem to be a numerous class) 
are not so favored : they need instruction and 
a sort of training for their office. Indeed, those 
who in their very nature can govern, as it is 
called, may be much assisted by hints drawn 
from the experience and observation of others. 

It must be confessed, that an irreverent, un- 
ruly spirit has come to be a prevalent, an out- 
rageous evil among the young people of our 
land. Foreigners observe the fact, and are 
very much struck — are indeed • shocked — by 
it. An elderly clergyman related to me this 
incident : " The Persian bishop, who visited 
this country several years ago, called on me ; 
and I introduced my daughter. His very first 
words, accompanied by a kindly look, were 
these : ' Do you obey your parents V — as much 
as to say, ' Can it be, that a young lady, so intel^ 
ligent and well-mannered as you appear to be, 
is, like American children and youth in gene- 
ral, disobedient and disrespectful to parents ? ' " 
The clergyman asked the bishop if he intended 
to visit England on his return home. He rcr 
plied, that he could not then tell: he must, in 
the first place, write home, and obtain his 
father's consent. The bishop's father was an 



NO-GOVERNMENT IN THE FAMILY. 39 

ecclesiastic of an inferior grade, and actually 
subordinate to the son. But, as a parent, he 
was considered far superior in position and 
office. Thus he must send across two oceans 
to obtain that parent's consent before he could 
make a passing call on gloriously renowned Eng- 
land. The incident shows a world-wide distance 
between the East and the West in other things 
than longitude. 

Some of the good old people make facetious 
complaint on this deterioration of youthful cha- 
racter and manners. " There is as much govern- 
ment now as there used to be in our young 
days," say they; "only it has changed hands." 
There are certain professional men, who have 
occasion to know, above most others, into whose 
hands it has been transferred : for instance, phy- 
sicians, ministers, and school-teachers. 

Many other people, of less extensive acquaint- 
ance, have been convinced of the fact. 

" This is a democratic country, there is not 
the least doubt," remarked a jocose friend ; " for 
the majority — that is, the children — do go- 
vern." Surely they have it mostly all their 
own way. Yes, the democratic spirit has crept 
into the home, where it was never intended to 
be. Father and mother — those sovereigns by 



40 GOVERNMENT; MISGOVERNMENT, AND 

divine right — have been deposed. Alas for 
morals and order until there shall be a restora- 
tion ! It should be laid down and inculcated 
through the nation as a great maxim of civil 
and political wisdom, that sound family mon- 
archies are the surest foundation of a steadfast 
and a happy republic. 

Instinctive parental love — that special en- 
dowment from the Divine Parent — is the first 
preparatory qualification for the holy office ; but 
it is quite often perverted into a disqualification. 
This was intended to insure fidelity to the child's 
best good ; but how frequently does it lead to 
blind, destructive indulgence ! The loving in- 
stinct of the brute makes it faithful, but never 
spoils the offspring. Would that the same could 
be said of the human sovereign of the brute ! 

This abuse of instinctive tenderness is parti- 
cularly shown in a lack of firmness to resist a 
child's importunities. The darling craves some 
improper gratification. His parent, true for 
the moment to conscience, says, " No ; " but the 
child's experience is, that no is turned to yes 
by half an hour's teasing. So he takes to this 
peculiarly melodious sort of eloquence : " Now, 
do, mamma : I say, won't you ? Do let me have 
it ! " till the conscientious, the womanly, yea, the 



NO-GO YERNMENT IN THE FAMILY. 41 

faithful motherly " No " is whined clear out of 
his way ; and the mamma often comes very near 
to something much like whining too : " Yes, 
you may have it : but, my child, how you do 
trouble me ! it seems as if you would wear my 
very life away." But, from a different disposi- 
tion, the reply is, perhaps, " Yes : take it, and be 
off! '^ If such a mother desires her child's love, 
let her understand that he is certainly not grow- 
ing in affection during this uncomfortable space 
between refusal and compliance. He is irritated 
by the delay. His thought and feeling are, 
" Why do you keep me waiting? Let me have 
it now. You know you'll let me have it by and 
by, after I have teased long enough ; as you 
always do. I don't like you, mother ; I don't 
like you, old mother ! Let me have it now." 
Such is the secret language of his soul. Well, 
does he like her any better after she has come 
round, or rather down, to his little mightiness ? 
Not at all. He thinks of her, cares for her, no 
more, till he comes back for some new indul- 
gence ; sure, moreover, that he shall get it. 
The child, whose appetites and passions are 
thus developed, really loves less than any other 
one. His lower nature is made to overgrow 
and cover up and crush down his higher; until, 



42 GOVERNMENT, MISGOVERNMENT, AND 

at length, it takes a good deal of perforation and 
probing about to get at what little heart he has 
left. 

Again : the parent wishes her child to enjoy 
life ; to be a happy child. How often she bends 
her back, hardens her hands, and scorches and 
withers her face, to furnish luxuries for his plea- 
sure ! Yet she is taking the most direct and 
certain means to counteract her heart's earnest 
desire ,* namely, that he should enjoy life. He 
is a spoiled child ; and the spoiled child is one of 
the most wretched beings that ever disappointed 
the purpose of creation. The least opposition 
stirs up his irascible temper ; and is such a dis- 
position a blessing? Brothers and sisters and 
men-servants and maid-servants, if there be such 
unfortunates about him, must go quick at his 
bidding, or spring and get something at his yell. 
How he will hop and stamp and flutter, and shake 
himself about, if he cries '' Go ! " or " Come ! '^ 
and nobody starts ! He gets provoked at things 
inanimate just because they retain their natural 
qualities : the nail his cap clings to, or the door 
which sticks a little in the opening, have to take 
instant punishment ,* or, rather, the little fist that 
hits them a blow has to take it. But alas for 
those that are not inanimate, and who can feel ! 



NO-GOVERNMENT IN THE FAMILY. 43 

The school-mate who will not turn down the way 
that suits him, or rather, perhaps, who will not 
stop by the way, or not do something else, just 
as he demands, becomes a momentary victim, 
and has to take a push, pinch, or kick. And 
what is he at school? — a self-willed, insolent 
nuisance to the teacher ; selfish and petulant 
with the pupils ; by turns, an offence to every- 
body. It is he who comes home knitting his 
brows, grating his teeth, and muttering his 
wrath, perhaps his hate, against some one. It 
is most likely to be the teacher. It is he who 
naakes the teacher's good appear nothing but 
evil before the parent ; and, alas ! that parent, 
spoiled also, has not the justice and the good 
sense, not the common sense, to go to the teach- 
er, and hear his account of the matter : no ; 
but rather repeats and propagates the child's 
misstatements. At length arise gross calumnies 
and intense bitterness ; and sometimes, espe- 
cially in CQuntry towns, comes the breaking-up 
of the school itself, sometimes of neighborly 
peace besides. These spoiled children are abso- 
lute robbers. Do they not compel the teacher 
to leave his duty to others to take care of them? 
Do they not wrest time and teaching from the 
whole school ? And why not ? Look into that 



44 GOYERNMENT, MISGOVERNMENT, AND 

family den whence these depredators have issued 
forth, and their felonious characters are at once 
accounted for. 

Let us now just glance at a contrast. Here 
is a child to whom " No " has always been 
no. The negative, once put down, stays, un- 
less there shall be some peculiar change of cir- 
cumstances. He has been trained never to be . 
impatient. He has learned to confide in the 
love and the wisdom which cross his inclina- 
tions. Well, his request is refused ; what then ? 
He drops not a tear, says not a word, but away he 
trips to something else, — to his work, his books, 
or his play. He skips like a lamb, he capers in 
the breeze, he carols like a bird, — a happy boy 
still, the well-governed and trustingly obedient 
son of a wise parent, — God's best angel in the 
flesh. 

Yerily, these weak parents spend absolutely 
more time in running after and coaxing, and 
trying to govern, their children, ten times over, 
forty times over, than the judicious disciplinari- 
an. Said an excellent lady, whose grandchildren 
were of the sort described, " Oh ! if my daughter 
had not so much to do, she would have time to 
train her children." I could have told her, 
that the very reason why her daughter did not 



NO-GOYERNMENT IN THE FAMILY. 45 

liave time to train her children was because she 
had not, in good season, taken time to train 
them. Her neglect led to misrule ; and this 
misrule compelled her, at length, to attempt to 
rule at a great expense of time, strength, and 
patience, and, after all, with but little success. 
To what wretched shifts are such imbeciles 
sometimes driven ! How often are methods 
adopted which the plainest common sense might 
perceive to be the immediate antecedents of 
evils worse than those which are sought to be 
presented I 

Not a few resort to stratagem, to downright 
deception. The consequence is, the quick-ejed 
child soon sees through the trick. He reads 
the natural, unbidden language of the tone and 
the countenance, contradicting the words ; and 
he receives a lesson in deception, — indeed, in 
falsehood, — which he will practise back again : 
yea, he will pay off his parent for such profitable 
instruction by lying, and with compound inte- 
rest. 

Others — God's vicegerents though they are, 
with absolute authority, and suflScient strength 
to enforce it — humbly pay for permission to ex- 
ercise a rightful control. They hire their liege 
subjects to obey. Ah ! what promises of rides, 



4G GOVERNMENT, MISGOVERNMENT, AND 

sights, plajs, playthings ; or, what is worse, of 
pie, cake, candy, — any thing that shall pervert 
still more an already perverted palate, and 
weaken even further an already weak sense 
of duty ! — for this is the consequence. These 
domestic rulers flatter themselves, that by these 
means they have exercised due authority, — 
have secured obedience. But this is not autho- 
rity or obedience : it is a bargain, the benefit of 
which is mostly on one side. The child thus 
trafficked with and tempted will practise his 
first Yankee shrewdness on his own parent. 
He will wait and wait, and wind up the pur- 
chaser to the point at which the pay suits him, 
before he will close in. Thus he exchanges 
obedience for what, in business, is called a 
" valuable consideration ; '^ or, to use another 
mercantile phrase, he performs a " pretty little 
operation " — on his own father or mother. What 
an absurdity I The Almighty God's own nearest 
agent, possessing an adult body, equipped with 
two strong arms and two capable hands, and 
having this very God and his Holy Word, 
and also conscience and common sense, in sup- 
port, — what an absurdity, what a sin, to stoop 
down, down, to buy up, not obedience, but tardy 
compliance, of tiny weakness ! Alas I how will 



KO-GOVERNMENT IN THE FAMILY. 47 

even wisdom sometimes change suddenly to 
folly, and substance and strength fall into very 
nothingness, in this matter of government ! 
While delivering lectures on domestic educa- 
tion, I was once the guest of an excellent lady. 
She was a very mother in her own little Israel, 
and took a deep interest in the cause. She really 
wished that " every parent in town could hear 
the lectures ; they were so much needed, and 
they would do so much good." But one day I 
saw her gliding along to a cupboard, her little 
boy tripping after. Soon she furtively slipped 
in her hand, and snatched out a golden and most 
tempting piece of cake, and slid it into the hand 
of the child ; while she leaned down to his ear 
with the softly whispered injunction (but I heard 
it), " There : now go, and do it." And this was 
a pattern mother of the town. It seemed as if a 
blow fell on my naked heart. " Ah ! how little 
good am I doing, after all ! " thought I. " All 
is vanity," said the Preacher of old. "All is 
vanity" was then despairingly echoed by one 
poor preacher of the present. 

Many have a habit of threatening as a means 
of government. You will hear them say, " I'll 
put you into the closet," or " out into the entry," 
or "down cellar!" How seldom is the threat 



48 GOVERNMENT, MISGOVERNMENT, AND 

executed ! Thus the parent not only betrays 
an utter powerlessness, but also sets an exam- 
ple of falsehood. But if the offender shall, at 
length, be thrust into the fearful place, the un- 
comfortable spirit is not thrust out ,of him. He 
scratches, he pushes, he thumps the door ; he 
splits his mother's ears with his screeches for 
some ^ve long minutes, perhaps ; when she, quite 
overcome, opens a chink just to parley a little, 

— to say, " Now, my son, if you'll only behave 
yourself, I'll" — but she does not finish her pro- 
position ; for he puts his two hands through that 
strip of daylight, pushes aside the door, and his 
mother too, and rushes out like the gust of a 
tempest. Then he continues to plague that 
weak-souled parent till weariness and sleep im- 
prison him for the night ; yet only to be let 
loose again in the morning, — the same little 
storm-spirit as before, ever blowing the parental 
threat back on the breath that uttered it. 

I have known those who would have been 
perfectly horrified at the idea of a woman's pre- 
suming on her right to exercise the butchering 
business, and to wield the knife and the cleaver, 

— 1 have heard such threaten most fiercely to 
shin their own offspring ; to skin them alive ; 
to take off every inch, as sure as they were 
born. 



KO-GOVERNMENT IN THE FAMILY. 49 

I have heard even more terrible threats than 
these. One day, as I was passing some Irish 
dwellings in Boston, my ears were suddenly 
shocked by the exclamation, in a fierce, feminine 
voice, together with the native brogue, " If you 
don't go 'long, I'll kuU ye I " I was seized with 
a curious impulse, and, in a moment, was within 
the door whence came the screech ; and there 
sat a handsome young Irishwoman, looking not 
at all as if she really meant to kill her little boy, 
who, near by, looked not at all as if he expected 
to be murdered by his own dear mother. I did 
not soften her surprise at my unexpected intru- 
sion with even a " Good-morning ! " but put the 
question at once, " Do you mean to say that you 
intend to kill your child ?" and she burst out into 
a good-natured laugh, and replied, " Oh ! I have 
to use the buggest word I can thunk of, or he 
won't go 'long." As I left this poor, ignorant 
Irish mother, I could not but reflect that there 
is also many an American parent, better off in 
every way, who uses big words to make a child 
" go along ; " and often, the bigger the word, the 
more he will not go. 

In these days of humane ameliorations, -cor- 
poral punishment savors of cruelty, and is by 
many considered a shocking barbarity. Few 



50 GOVERNMENT, MISGOVERNMENT, AND 

parents can bear to have bodily pain inflicted on 
a child at school ; yet I have often seen those 
who are given to the most excessive indulgence, 
and who would almost melt with tears of sym- 
pathy at any accidental trouble to the darling, 
— I have seen such, in momentary excitement, 
assail that same tender creature with a violence 
which would be deemed entirely behind the age, 
if resorted to at school. Here is a catalogue of 
such parental inflictions : pats, slaps, pulls, dabs, 
twists, twitches,, tweaks, pinches, pokes, pushes, 
cufls, shakings (almost to very pieces), down- 
right whippings with a little stick, and possibly 
thumps with something heavier still. 

It may, however, really be necessary sometimes 
to resort to corporal punishment ; to give a real, 
old-fashioned whipping with the old-fashioned 
rod, — even Solomon's rod. The strong, lower 
nature cannot be subdued, perhaps, any other 
way. This is often the case when due discipline 
has been neglected too long. Sometimes a hard- 
ened child or youth comes from unfaithful hands 
into other and more conscientious care ; and it 
is felt, at length, that decided steps are to be 
taken. Now, if there is to be whipping, let it 
be a whipping^ especially if the subject is of 
considerable size. Let some time elapse be- 



NO-GOVERNMENT IN THE FAMILY. 51 

tween the offence and the punishment, that the 
culprit may think the matter over, feel his guilti- 
ness, and shrink from the correcting hand before 
it is lifted : thus his soul shall be whipped as 
well as his body, and with more than twofold 
effect. Then, when the hour of infliction shall 
come, let it be a solemn hour, — a season of 
earnest prayer for a right spirit ; let it be as 
if the heavens darkened down, and the guar- 
dian angels were looking through the gloom with 
starry eyes, taking note of the transaction in their 
books of remembrance, from which you yourself 
are to be judged. So let it be, and such a pun- 
ishment may be blessed by the Most Merciful, 
and be the beginning of a permanent reform. 

There are numerous mild methods of disci- 
pline which may be adopted with all desirable 
results in the case of many little offenders. 
Give a child nothing to do ; fasten him to a 
seat : let there be nothing which he can play 
with, or any way use, within reach, — not even 
a particle of sand ; for, if there shall be, he will 
try to solve with it the problem of the infinite 
divisibility of matter. Restless activity is al- 
most as constant a condition and want of his 
nature as breathing is. Let him, then, have 
plenty of the opposite inaction ; burden him 



52 GOVERNMENT, MISGOVERNMENT, AND 

with nottiing to do ; and you are about as likely 
to reach the difficulty as in any other way, — 
this, too, without absolute bodily pain. 

You may send a wrong-doer to bed in the 
bright daytime. Take away his clothes, and 
every possible occupation ; and then let him 
continue — rolling from side to side, seeking 
rest, not to his body, but to his feelings — 
until he shall resolve to amend, and shall hum- 
bly promise so to do. But give not over until 
you conquer, if it shall take a month. There 
are various other privations of customary plea- 
sures and comforts which might be tried with 
good effect. Let there be an inevitable cer- 
tainty, that any specific transgression shall be 
punished with some specific privation, and the 
method, in most cases, will be successful. 

Let me not be understood as advising an iron 
rigor, with its hard, sharp, cutting severity. I 
simply counsel resolution and efficiency, accom- 
panied by as much mildness as Christian love 
can breathe into your character. There may be 
all the firmness of the rock, with all the velvet 
softness of the mosses that grow upon and adorn 
it. The child respects real authority. When 
he knows and feels that the parent possesses 
a truly conscientious determination, together 



NO-GOYERNMENT IN THE FAMILY. 53 

with all due parental love and tenderness, re- 
verence and love are likely to be his permanent 
dispositions. To obey, when occasion requires, 
will be a habit. Take an illustration from the 
sun : there he stands, — the great paternal lu- 
minary, — keeping around him and holding fast 
his family of worlds, each in its proper place ; 
pouring out his golden beams, awakening the 
verdure, opening the flowers, ripening the fruits, 
profusely shedding beauty, but making no noise. 
Let it be so with parentage centred in the 
home, — strong, loving, luminous, quiet, but ever 
there ; an unmoved, immovable, central power. 
Why should not children love and grow and 
blossom and be blessed under such unfailing, 
genial influence? 

Another mode of amendment is to keep a 
record of failings and amendments. An admo- 
nition of to-day is often forgotten by to-morrow, 
in the whirl of giddy thought. Again : words 
may be uttered, in reply, not altogether respect- 
ful in tone, if they should be in meaning. This 
may excite harshness in the parent ; and then 
really disrespectful language in rejoinder bursts 
out from the child, and both advice and autho- 
rity are more unheeded than ever. All this may 
be avoided by a silent record in a blank book. 



54 GOVERNMENT, MISGOYERNMENT, AND 

There, in the kindest spirit, explain the nature 
of a wrong disposition, and put down the several 
circumstances of anj instance of misconduct. 
Now, this will be a momentous matter to a child. 
It is in black and white, almost like print. It 
can be read in solitude, and in moments of so- 
ber reflection, when the words of wisdom and 
tenderness will be apt to sink deep into the 
heart. This record does not perish in the air 
like words uttered by the mouth. There it is, 
to meet the eye again to-morrow, or a month 
or a year hence. There it is, moreover, to be 
seen by the other parent, — the father, for in- 
stance, — when he shall come in. To a daugh- 
ter tenderly attached to a father, it is a fearful 
spectacle, — that of this beloved and revered 
parent reading such a record with a tearful eye, 
a saddened countenance, and a meaning glance 
now and then at the misdoer. Let the child's 
character, as it unfolds, continue to be registered, 
the good as well as the evil ; the improvements 
in an especial manner, as an encouragement. If 
an ordinary story shall be of use, this cannot 
but be so. It is the child's own passing life and 
changing character put into a permanent book, — 
the life giving back visible lessons to the heart 
from which that life has issued forth. 



NO-GOVERNMENT IN THE FAMILY. 55 

Finally : one of the surest methods of secur- 
ing filial reverence and obedience is to sur- 
round and consecrate the relation of parent and 
child by religious associations. Next to that of 
God, the name of the earthly parent should be 
hallowed. In the nearest possible relationship 
stand father and mother to the Father in heaven. 
They receive the soul from his generating spi- 
rit ; they take the body from his framing hand. 
They receive the charge of life directly from 
the Self- existent and Eternal Life. Who ap- 
proach nearer to the Lord God Almighty than 
they? Yerily, if any relation is holy, it is 
theirs. At first, they stand between the Most 
High and their ofi'spring. They are the shadow- 
ing- forth of his power and majesty and love. 
It is through them that he bows the heavens, 
and comes down to the least of his little ones on 
earth. For the child, in the first instance, does 
not know any thing concerning his heavenly 
Parent ; but he does know his own visible fa- 
ther and mother. These are a sort of first 
deities to him : they are great, very great, 
to his littleness. Their might is irresistible, 
their authority absolute, their care ever ready, 
their love unfailing. All he possesses and en- 
joys is chiefly from them. They are the first, 



56 GOVERNMENT, MISGOYERNMENT, AND 

the greatest, the wisest, the most affectionate, 
and the most tenderly beloved beings known. 
Home, moreover, is all the heaven of which he 
at first knows. Now, when the idea of the 
Father most high, our Father in heaven, is pre- 
sented, the little soul but runs up from inferior 
attributes, with which he is already acquainted, 
to higher ones of a similar kind. How impor- 
tant, then, that the earthly relative should most 
truly show forth the qualities of that relation- 
ship which is of all others the highest and the 
holiest ! As the little learner shall associate 
one with the other, how will the reverence 
and obedience to both be intermingled and con- 
firmed, and become an abiding and controlling 
princijjle of the life ! Let that parent, then, 
be faithful, not so much to his own as to the 
heavenly Father's child. It is through him 
as an instrumentality that the Eternal would 
bestow his earliest and his best blessing on 
the newly existent immortal, especially the 
blessing of spiritual and religious nurture. He 
is consecrated to a holier work than ever was 
priest, and in a holier temple than was ever 
reared by human hands. He is to lead this 
undying spirit to its own Father in the high- 
est, in the temple of home. In this place. 



NO-GOVERNMENT IN THE FAMILY. 57 

if anywhere below, there should be an altar, 
and a worship the purest and the most faithful. 
If any priesthood should never neglect its duty, 
the priesthood here should never fail. This 
family shrine should be the holy of holies to the 
little one there kneeling. It should be the most 
sacred as well as the dearest spot on earth. As 
that revered father shall read the Word, and as he 
shall lift the devout, sincere soul in iprajer, lead- 
ing the circle of loved and linked hearts to the 
sole Hearer of prayer, how will he increasingly 
reflect upon the subdued and solemnized child 
somewhat of the love unspeakable and the light 
full of glory which fall upon him from above I 
The earthly relations will be indissolubly asso- 
ciated with the divine ; and this changeful, 
lower home, with the everlasting, ever-blessed 
heavens. Now, with other judicious training, 
how will reverence for rightful authority possess 
the filial soul I With due fidelity on the part of 
those charged with the care of the dispositions 
and the habits, obedience will become a con- 
firmed characteristic. With faithful endeavors, 
and with God's blessing, the apostolic injunction 
can hardly fail to be heeded : " Children, obey 
your parents in the Lord ; for this is right." 
How solemn will seem that commandment of 



58 GOVERNMENT, MISGOVERNMENT, AND 

the Ancient of days, given amid the awfulness 
of Sinai, yet with graciousness and significant 
promise, " Honor thy father and thy mother " ! 

Oh that mothers knew their power ! It is as 
spirit and might from God. There is nothing 
this side of heaven and the angels so strong as 
a mother's teaching, prompted by a mother's 
love, and this, blessed by the divine answering 
of a mother's prayers. I have a most appropri- 
ate illustration. 

While in the exercise of a missionary mini- 
stry in Boston, I was one day hastening along 
what was considered not only the crookedest, 
but the filthiest and the wickedest, street in the 
city. I had been informed, that, in a cellar 
there, a half- drunken man and his equally 
drunken wife were selling liquor to make others 
wholly drunken, if thereby gain might be added 
to gain. I felt that I must stop a moment to 
remonstrate. While in the place, there came 
in a young man, tall, finely formed, and athletic, 
with a bright and interesting countenance. He 
leaned his elbow on the bar, as if waiting for 
the stranger to retire, — probably that he might 
more freely obtain his dram. I presumed it 
seemed to him that I had a sort of missionary 
aspect. I soon addressed him with a kindly 



NO-GOVERNMENT IN THE FAMILY. 59 

greeting, and received a civil reply. I then 
inquired if his mother were living. In an in- 
stant, his cheek was flushed and his eye mois- 
tened; and he tremulously replied, "No, sir: my 
mother has been dead fourteen years." Then, 
looking him steadily but kindly in the face, I 
further inquired, '' Did your mother teach you 
to pray, my young friend ? Did she teach you re- 
ligion ? " The color deepened on his cheek, 
and his eyes filled with tears ; and in choked ac- 
cents he stammered out, " sir ! my mother was 
a good woman : she did teach me to pray ; she 
did teach me religion. I thought I had religion 
myself, once ; but it is all gone now." I imme- 
diately stepped up to his side, took him by 
the arm, and said, " My young friend, this is no 
place for you. Come, go with me." Then I led 
him up those creaking, crazy steps as if he had 
been the veriest child. I conversed with him a 
few minutes longer while standing on the pave- 
ment, and warm tears fell from his eyes upon 
the cold, red brick ; but, being in haste, I took 
him to an intelligent friend not far off, and 
asked that he would detain him somehow till I 
could return and hold further conversation. But 
I did not see the young man again. He went 
soon into the country, returning but once, as I 



60 GOVERNMENT, MISGOYERNMENT, AND 

understood, to get some necessary articles ] and 
then he entirely disappeared. I know not what 
became of him from that time onward. But I 
received a singular, and to me, at that time, a 
surprising account of him on that very day. I 
requested a police watchman of that district to 
accompany me in the evening in a visit to the 
many cellar haunts in that street, similar to, and 
perhaps worse than, the one I had entered in 
the morning. I wanted his protection from dan- 
ger, or at least insult, as I wished to make some 
investigations for a moral purpose, which I was 
set to do by the committee of the association 
under which I operated. He told me that he 
was engaged, and that the whole body of the 
city police were also engaged, on special duty 
for that evening. " But," said he, " I can tell 
you of a young man, who, if you can secure his 
company, will keep you safe ; for everybody in 
the street is afraid of him." To my exceeding 
surprise, he mentioned the very person whom I 
had met in the cellar that morning. This young 
man had before been the ringleader of the 
riots of the street, the rowdiest of the rowdy, — 
the very Anak among the strong. When he 
came swinging his big fist and screeching with 
his almost wild-beast voice, the stoutest and the 



NO-GO YERNMENT IN THE FAMILY. 61 

bravest stood aside, and let him pass. He had, 
at length, been put into jail for riot. From this 
durance he had just come out. He was con- 
siderably sobered, probably, as the watchman 
knew, and intending to be more cautious in his 
conduct, but still carrying sufficient of his past 
reputation to make others stand off and keep 
clear. At this point in his history, I met him in 
the cellar. I was a perfect stranger. He had 
no interest in me. He would not have struck 
me, perhaps ; but he might have turned away 
surlily, or have given me an insolent reply. But 
no : I spoke two or three words ; they seemed to 
be spiritually electric, — mother, prayer, religion; 
and the strong and the feared one seemed utter- 
ly subdued. I took and led him out of that foul 
drinking den as if he were the smallest boy that 
could walk; and I committed him, while in tears 
like a child, to the care of a friend. It was the 
remembrance of a mother's teaching and prayers 
that now came over him. Was it not in answer 
to those prayers that a way was opened through 
the stone around the heart, so that the waters 
of contrition gushed forth, cleansing in their 
course, and preparing for the regenerating spi- 
rit of God? 

Now, mothers, will you not teach your chil- 



62 GOVERNMENT, ETC., IN THE FAMILY. 

dren to pray? and will you not pray with 
them ? Will you not teach them religion ? Fa- 
thers, shall these partners in parentage, shall 
these hearts joined with yours in the most re- 
sponsible duties, be the only servants of God 
who shall teach, pray, and be faithful in that 
holiest of all places, the home ? 



LECTUEE 



ON THE 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 



I. THE RULE FOR IT. 
II. HOW THIS RULE IS NEGLECTED, 
m. HINTS ON ITS OBSERVANCE. 



NOTE. 



Especial attention is invited to the introductory pages of the 
following Lecture. Here is set forth, though very imperfectly, an 
all-important principle in education ; one which, if made a chief 
aim in culture and in life, would change earth to a paradise. The 
more clearly this shall be understood in the outset, the more effective 
are likely to be the subsequent strictures and suggestions. 

The few physiological hints interspersed, though not appertaining 
to the main subject, presented themselves so readily, that the oppor- 
tunity was seized for needful service in this much-neglected direc- 
tion. 

The remarks on the forced and untimely activity of the infantile 
brain are commended to serious consideration. This all-prevalent 
error should be conversed upon in the household and in the neighbor- 
hood, and the law of soundness be rigidly enforced, if parents would 
save the helpless child from much suffering, and themselves from 
harassing discomfort. 



LECTURE 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 



G 



OD is love. Prompted by this, he is ever 
exercising all his infinite attributes to bless 
his creation. As to human beings, however, he 
cannot bless them in the highest, without their 
own consent. If husband and wife, parents and 
children, brothers and sisters, do not lovingly 
discharge their mutual duties, then that good 
cannot be given which God has in store. It is 
only through their own hearts and hands th'at 
domestic felicities can reach them. If neigh- 
bors interchange no sincere kindnesses, then the 
best advantages of vicinage are not enjoyed. 
So throughout the whole great family of our 
race : man is, from the heart, to bless man, 
according to nearness and ability and to oppor- 
tunity in general, or the common Father's boun- 
tiful provisions will be unused and his plans not 
carried out. God must abide by his own wise 

5 



66 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

and pre-existent laws. He will not crush the 
order of his universe for the sake of those who 
refuse to conform. Whoever, therefore, does his 
duty to others, is in his own person, as it were, 
the lengthening- out of the arm of the Infinite 
Giver ; so that he drops his bounty into capaci- 
ties otherwise unreached. Whoever does not 
perform his duty to others, hinders even the 
Almighty from bestowing the good he intends. 
Indeed, the Most Merciful is at any moment 
actually waiting to pour sweet satisfactions 
through the hearts and lives of millions ; but 
they will not let him. Unloving relatives, quar- 
relsome or neglectful neighbors, and unjustly 
warring nations, turn aw^ay from the infinite 
fountain of good, and will not receive its ever- 
ready streams. 

It is a common idea, that the recipient of a 
favor is the one most benefited ; but it is not so, 
if we consider the inner as well as the outer life. 
The bestower, if he possesses a right motive 
and spirit, is more blessed than the receiver. 
He has the satisfaction of witnessing another's 
increased enjoyment, and of being the object of 
thankfulness and of warmer attachment. But 
it is not necessary to the enjoyment of doing 
good that the object of it should know whence 



MANAGEMENT OP THE SELFHOOD. 67 

it comes, so as to be grateful to the individual 
benefactor. There is a reward richer than the 
deepest gratitude or the tenderest sensibility 
of the person benefited : it is that which arises 
from, indeed which exists in, the affection itself 
that prompts to the action. The love which is 
not only felt, but which is disinterestedly active, 
toward another, is the very essence of happi- 
ness. The divine and all-perfect character will 
illustrate this. God is love. The infinitely 
intense consciousness of this love, the never- 
ceasing outflowing of it through innumerable 
channels in his recipient creation, are what con- 
stitute his blessedness; at least, in a large de- 
gree. It is not what his children feel toward 
him and do for him that makes him happy, but 
what he feels toward and does for them. Just 
so the highest felicity of man consists in the 
possession, the consciousness, and the outflowing 
of a similar love. In all the relations of life, it 
is not what we receive from others which gives 
us the purest and most intense pleasure : it is 
what we feel inwardly toward them. 

Once, in my own presence, a mother, holding 
her infant upon her lap, and gazing intently into 
its face, exclaimed, " Oh ! I could sit here all 
day, and ask for no other happiness than to look 



68 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

at this darling child." She was blessed in her 
own overflowing maternal heart. It was not in 
the filial reciprocation of it ; for that infant could 
not yet appreciate and feel in return. It is 
the same in all the other domestic affections, and 
likewise in the still wider relationships. It is 
what each one feels toward another that is the 
most thrillingly intense, and that makes the most 
precious part of the heart's treasures. It is not 
the consciousness of reciprocated attachment, 
though this truly adds to the happiness. 

In the circle of friendship, it is not the atten- 
tions shown us, or the presents we receive, 
which most enhance that circle : it is what we 
feel toward and do for them. To a properly 
cultivated and noble nature, there is far more 
gratification in making a birthday or a New- 
Year's present than in receiving one. 

Again : the benefactor to the poor is blessed 
in the very consciousness of a benevolent dis- 
position ; but he is doubly blessed when this 
disposition is moved, and gushes out afresh in 
a new act of kindness. The late Amos Law- 
rence of Boston gave perhaps of his abundant 
means from a sense of duty ; but he gave also 
because he loved to do it: it made him hap- 
py as such things do the angels. When the 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 69 

good doer lets not his left hand know what his 
right doeth, then no praise of men or no self- 
praise disturbs the pure thrilling bliss of the 
prompting, Heaven-like love. 

Florence Nightingale left her healthful, rural 
home in England, and shut herself up in a hospi- 
tal, in crowded, smoky London, to tend upon 
poor invalid women. She betook herself to 
this work, not for money or for distinction, but 
from that sweet benevolence of the heart which 
is its own reward. She went to the Crimea, and 
confronted sickness and death in all its horrors, 
to relieve the suffering soldier. She made her- 
self so useful and dear to the wretched, that the 
very shadow of her person falling on his pillow 
was kissed by him in the impulsive throb of 
his grateful bosom. All the emoluments the 
English Government could bestow in compensa- 
tion, all the honors royalty might vouchsafe, to 
this noble woman, would have been no induce- 
ment to superintend those pestilential hospitals. 
She went because she loved to go. Her heart 
carried her thither, and her reward was in the 
heaven of her own bosom. 

Thus we perceive the principal ground on 
which was given the golden command, '^ Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" It was 



70 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

because self- forgetful love toward other living 
beings is the central spirit and inmost life of 
true and lasting happiness. To love God with 
all the heart, and the neighbor as one's self, is 
to receive the very kingdom of Heaven into the 
heart. It is to receive Jesus Christ and the 
Holy Spirit and God himself. It is to be like 
God to the utmost extent in which the finite can 
approach the Infinite in affection and blessed- 
ness. 

But how little have mankind understood this 
philosophy of their nature, and the loving will 
and beneficent laws of God ! Even the majority 
of those brought up under Christian influences 
do not understand. They live and act as if hap- 
piness was something outside of them, or some- 
thing to be grasped after, struggled for, and 
taken in. By each individual's thus feeling 
and acting, there comes a collision of one per- 
son's self with another person's self, and mutual 
repulse, loss, and disappointment. If any do 
succeed in gratifying the lower and selfish na- 
ture without ofi'ence to others, yet how poor and 
miserable they are notwithstanding 1 

Each successive generation of mankind edu- 
cates its offspring in the same ignorance, to 
make the same mistake, and to suffer the same 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 71 

wretched disappointment. Parents, by their 
own spirit and example, train and lead their 
children to shut out that kingdom of God which 
is waiting to come into their souls in all its ful- 
ness and felicity. Even the majority of pro- 
fessedly Christian parents, who really desire 
better things as far as they are sincere, do, from 
almost the earliest consciousness of their chil- 
dren, educate them into this unchristian and 
most unheavenly selfishness. They do that 
which it seems to me they would utterly abhor ; 
that indeed which all loving and rational pa- 
rents would abhor, if they did but understand 
the true philosophy of happiness. Why should 
they rather curse than bless those who are so 
dear to their hearts? 

I propose now to show some of the occasions 
and circumstances through which children are 
educated to dispositions and habits of selfish- 
ness. 

Human beings, however pure, could hardly 
but manifest something like selfishness in the 
very earliest life ; because, through utter igno- 
rance and inexperience, they would be conscious 
only of their own pleasures and pains. Their 
first attention, in the very nature of things, 
must be directed to themselves ; and, if they 



72 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

should not be specially informed^ they must 
come quite slowly to recognize the welfare of 
their fellow - creatures. Besides this primary 
and necessary regard for self, there is very early 
developed, in innocent ignorance, as human na- 
ture now is, an unheavenly self-seeking. Even 
should there be no injudicious treatment on the 
part of friends, children in diiferent degrees, 
according to native constitution, show, quite uni- 
versally, that they do not love their neighbor 
as themselves. It requires the most faithful 
effort and discipline to bring the child to this 
best law of life. Indeed, it needs the regene- 
rating spirit of God to purify the soul from 
self-love. Watchful care and training only put 
the soul in a receptive attitude, that the Holy 
Spirit may enter, and make way for the fulness 
of the kingdom of love. 

It is of unspeakable importance, at the earliest 
possible period, to check this inborn, perverse 
selfishness, and to open the heart to better dis- 
positions. But, as methods generally are, the 
original tendency is perpetually strengthened. 
Parents, older brothers and sisters, and other 
friends, join in the baleful, cruel work of inten- 
sifying self; and, of course, multiplying the mise- 
ries which must be the consequence. 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 73 

A first injudicious step is a premature awaken- 
ing of the intellect. It is very gratifying to 
parents and others of the family to observe a 
child's opening faculties, and especially to re- 
ceive from him an individualizing look. Hence, 
at the earliest stage, particular effort is made 
to induce him first to recognize them, and next to 
notice the inanimate objects around. At length, 
he does observe more and more, with less 
and less prompting and direction from others. 
He now not only sees, but desires to take 
hold of and to become acquainted with, things. 
Soon this new intellectual appetite comes to 
be an urgent want ; and, unless it is gratified, 
the infantile looker is uneasy, and wriggles 
about : he is sometimes quite uncomfortable, 
and cries aloud. He must know, and he must 
have too. His mind outruns his bodily ability : 
so others must go and come and bring for 
him. If he craves what should be denied, he 
must have it, or he screeches like — not a little 
innocent child. So the harm must be risked, 
for he cannot be reasoned with ; or, if refusal is 
absolutely necessary, how prolonged cries of 
disappointment, and perhaps flashes of temper, 
pain the parent and trouble the tender-hearted 
observer ! He must not play with fire ; he shall 



74 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

not toss and swing about tlie costly watch as he 
does his rattle ; he may scream, fling out his 
hands, pucker all up, redden in the face, stretch 
out stiff, and almost go into spasms, and yet no 
one can take down for him the new moon or the 
evening star. Now, I would ask, if it would not 
be better to leave the child to put forth his 
mental powers more slowly ; and then a sdf^ 
that cannot be gratified without tasking and 
wearjnng others, will not be so readily and ex- 
cessively developed. The grown-up, with their 
many faculties in the highest state of develop- 
ment, do not desire what they never thought 
of; and why should the child crave and cry for 
what he knows nothing at all about? Again: 
inasmuch as the feeble perceptives easily tire 
of the same object, a frequent change is de- 
manded, and must be had, or there is no peace. 
So there is a hurried, and often an anxious, 
seeking for something new for the unnaturally 
awakened curiosity. This cannot be put down 
at will, though the nerves of all concerned pain- 
fully suffer. 

By such management, the larger portion of 
infants in civilized society require some one to 
hold them, to wait on them, to carry them about, 
and to supply new objects of interest ; or, in 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 75 

other words, to amuse them. We now not only- 
have the phrases, '^ Tend the baby," " Mind the 
baby," but " Amuse the baby." He must have 
amusements, as a fashionable woman must have 
parties, balls, and theatres to keep her from 
being miserable. He has time on his hands to 
be killed, like some foolish, grown-up people, who 
have no regular occupation. In this way, at 
the very earliest, the inborn, selfish tendencies 
are hurried forth, and hardened into abiding 
habits. Thus the quite young child becomes 
the veriest tyrant of the household. 

It was not intended that the mind should 
grow in strength and activity disproportioned 
to the ability of the material coverings and in- 
struments ; as an illustration will make evident. 
Who would prematurely make a child stand, 
and bear his weight, on his soft, tender foot, and 
slender, yielding leg ? All know the danger of 
distorting the little member out of shape. The 
babe must lie at length, before he can sit; he 
must roll and sidle along before he can creep ; 
and creep before he can stand or walk. We 
wait for nature gradually to accumulate strength,, 
sure that this strength will be well used in good 
time. Other parts of the frame are weak in 
proportion, — the hand, arm, stomach, and the 



76 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

very organs of speech. However mucli the in- 
fant wonder may think and have to say, he can- 
not command his organs of speech till they have 
attained a certain degree of growth, qonsistency, 
and strength. The little material organization, 
in a harmonious and healthy development, is 
feeble alike throughout. Of course, the brain, 
being made of matter, is subject to the laws of 
matter, and is certainly weak with the rest 
of the body. Ought it, then, to be exercised 
too early, any more than any other member? 
Indeed, the brain, in substance, texture, and 
complexity, is probably one of the most delicate 
organs of the whole system ; and none is more 
liable to be harmed by premature use. Every 
act of observation, every newly awakened de- 
sire, tasks the brain : every ebullition of passion, 
— yes, the least emotion of disappointment, — 
when the flitting wish must be crossed, also 
tasks the brain. This early rousing of the per- 
ceptions by the quickly successive showing of 
objects, this carrying of the child in some new 
direction to see things, and this bringing of 
other things to him to be seen, in conse- 
quence of the prematurity, is a similar folly 
with that by which a child is put too early and 
assiduously to his school and his books ; which 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 77 

course is now considered physically and men- 
tally destructive, and foolish in the extreme. 

If, however, the habit of a premature curiosity 
has been formed, or there is a very peculiar 
constitution, it Will require much reflection and 
wisdom to deal with it ; but, somehow, it ought 
to be modified and regulated. For health's sake, 
then, let alone the infant brain, or, more proper- 
ly speaking, the mind that moves it. Do not 
permit the intellect to peep through the senses 
at the strange things of this new earth-scene 
any faster than need be. When the little ob- 
server shall come to carry himself, — first upon 
creeping toes and knees, and then upon his in- 
dependent feet, — still permit him to make his 
discoveries but slowly^ and stay as long at each 
one as will in any wise content him. In this 
way, you will not stretch and twist and shatter 
his tender nervous system by premature and 
excessive action. He will thereby also, at the 
soonest, begin to form an important intellectual 
habit, — that of fixed and continued attention. 
His little perceptives will not be wearied and 
worn as they would have been if tasked earlier : 
so that now he can continue longer at an object 
without weariness or harm ; at least, he can take 
his own abundant time, and not engross the 



78 MANAGEMENT OP THE SELFHOOD. 

precious hours or minutes of another. By such 
a holding-back, or rather by this not hurrying 
forward, how will the comfort, and perhaps 
health, of others be spared ? Ah ! that older 
sister will not be so often kept 'from pastime or 
study, or from easier and useful occupation, to 
tend the babe ; tossing him this way and that ; 
reaching up and taking down, first one thing, 
and then another ; again stretching on tiptoe, 
and, with tip-fingers, getting at still something 
else for his gratification ; or tugging with him 
backward and forward, shifting from one aching 
arm to another, and hushing and humming her 
breath away, to soothe him if he must be dis- 
appointed ; and, withal, straining her limbs, 
wrenching her sides, twiating her spine, perhaps 
crippling her for life, and possibly crushing her 
into an earlier grave, as has actually been the 
case with thousands. 

Another misfortune may also sometimes be 
avoided, — that of an ignorant and self-serving 
domestic stealthily dealing paragoric to stupefy 
the unquiet little creature into sleep, endanger- 
ing health, and even life. Thus, by letting 
alone, and patiently waiting Nature's period, the 
child is far more likely to retain his precious 
health and sweet gentleness, and to have a time- 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 79 

ly ability proportioned to his age. Indeed, from 
what bodily distemperaments and mental uneasi- 
ness at present, and unnumbered ills in future, 
shall the unconscious innocent be saved ! Still 
further, from what unmelodious cries and pain- 
ful sympathies and wearisome tendance shall 
the kindly household likewise escape ! 

Please not to understand that I would neglect 
real and absolute wants : these may be more or 
less numerous and urgent, according to native 
constitution ; and must receive due attention. 
But I do say, — and I say it with emphasis, — let 
the soul work its way through the senses with- 
out pressure and any hastening effort, just as the 
flower emerges from the bud. It will be all 
the more thrifty, symmetrical, and lovely for 
being left to itself. Nature, whether in her 
inanimate or animate organizations, must be per- 
mitted her own time and methods. 

The necessity of food is one of the most 
frequent occasions for the development of self- 
ishness in one of its basest forms, — that of 
sensuality. 

The human organism, like any other machine, 
wears out, and needs mending up. Food is the 
mending substance. In any case of repair, 
the skilful mechanic applies just enough addi- 



80 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

tional material to remedy the defect, — to make 
the structure as much like a new one as pos- 
sible, and no more. The waste made in the 
animal body is to be supplied precisely accord- 
ing to the same rule, — just as much fresh 
material, in the form of nutriment, is to be 
added as will answer the end, and no more. In 
the case of the child, however, the means of 
growth, besides this, are to be furnished ; or the 
machine is to be completed, — that is, brought 
to its full size. ' The want is indicated by hun- 
ger. This ceasing, the Creator's end has been 
answered. An overplus of aliment would tend 
to impede the action of the organism, and to 
disfigure its symmetry. In the repair of a 
watch, a little too much new material would 
disturb the delicate mechanism, and the needed 
exactness of .movement would be lost. Further 
and clumsier tinkerings would stop it dead. Is 
it not the same with this human timepiece, which 
ticks the moments with heart-beats ? God's law 
of mechanical proportions and adjustments, in the 
case of his living workmanship, is temperance ; 
and this law cannot be vidated with impu- 
nity. Yet, alas ! how continually is it trans- 
gressed ! In this land of plenty and indulgence, 
many children eat quite as much for pastime 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 81 

and mere sensual pleasure as for use. Simple, 
nutritious food, Nature's best mending stuff, will 
not suflSce, as the relish for such depends on 
Nature's healthy appetite. Artificial tastes are 
excited by artificial luxuries, and these soon be- 
come pressing wants. How does the evil begin ? 
Just to amuse the newly weaned, or perhaps the 
unweaned, infant ; just to amuse, — nothing more 
is intended, — a crum or a spoon's-tip of some 
rich compound is put to his mouth. The flavor 
is now first experienced ; and the little creature, 
whose frame the Creator would build strongly 
up from the purest elements, is thus initiated 
into high living. A little further on in his 
months, he troubles the busy housekeeper : so 
some dainty diverts attention while she accom- 
plishes her affairs. Or some tired attendant, in 
this way, relieves herself from his uncomfortable 
humors. Well, a taste is fairly formed for eat- 
ing : eating becomes a fastened habit. It is 
one of the ways in which a smart little fellow, 
two years old, kills time. He is really dissipated. 
At peep of day, he gives his mother a slap, or 
his father a push, or the nurse (if she has the 
care) a pinch, and wants cake, pie, candy, or 
some other good thing. Then, all day long, 
there must still be, besides the family meals, an 

6 



82 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

occasional tribute to the palate. He is dull and 
uncomfortable : he wants amusement ; so he 
amuses himself with eating, as some other time- 
killers do with drinking. As they whet up the 
appetite for dinner, or more probably, in the 
long-run, blunt it down, by gin, brandy, or rum ; 
so this little beginner prepares himself for the 
meal by a spicy piece of mince -pie or an unc- 
tuous doughnut. He thus early becomes a gross 
voluptuary. 

What, now, is the consequence ? In the earlier 
stages of this gluttonous career, thousands and 
thousands are borne to the grave, indirectly 
killed by sheer indulgence. Accidental colds 
are made worse, and promoted to violent fevers ; 
disorders of the bowels are engendered ; heredi- 
tary diseases, like the scrofula, more easily fasten 
an incurable hold ; indeed, ills untold and un- 
imagined are brought upon the weak and over- 
loaded system. According to reliable statistics, 
about one-quarter of all that are born die under 
five years of age. Of course, how much larger 
the number driven from the stage of life be- 
tween birth and the adult period ! No doubt, 
impure air and various other circumstances are 
partly the cause ; but this premature destruc- 
tion might yet be very much diminished by fit- 
ness, temperance, and regularity in diet. 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 83 

Ah ! could parents but once clearly under- 
stand how fearful as well as wonderful is this 
organism of muscles, fibres, nerves, tubes,, and 
infinitesimal ducts, together with the speeding 
currents, oozing juices, and dew-like distilla- 
tions ; and how they twist and clog and mat and 
mash them up by their blind, their almost insane, 
indulgence, — methinks they would fall on their 
knees, and lift hands and eyes and voices to the 
Author of life, supplicating pardon for the mur- 
derous "past, and wisdom and firmness for the 
future ; and thus this terrible havoc of the inno- 
cents would be abated. 

In our abundant country, people of the most 
ordinary means might take a lesson, in this mat- 
ter of eating, from the nobility of England. It 
is said, that all along up through childhood cer- 
tainly, and somewhat into youth, their children 
are not permitted those luxuries which load the 
daily table for the gratification of their elders. 
By such judicious restraints, as well as by other 
circumstances, this class of people is insured 
that degree of robust health for which it is so 
distinguished. Indeed, we might take a further 
lesson from even regal families. Victoria, it is 
said, exhibits a truly queenly wisdom in the 
education of the royal heirs. No doubt, that, 



'84 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

in her family, sound dietetic rules are observed 
as well as other important principles of disci- 
pline. The husband and father, it is well known, 
co-operates with the most conscientious faith- 
fulness, and lends a strong, steady, governing 
hand. 

It may be stated, in addition, that the children 
of the Russian czars are altogether unaccus- 
tomed to harmful luxuries. The dietetic laws 
appertaining to them are absolute. In this 
manner must the present autocrat have been 
educated. Thus he has inherited, and con- 
tinues to enjoy, a sound body to go with that 
sound intellect and great heart which bestows 
freedom, as well as commands obedience, among 
the sixty millions of his vast empire. If every 
citizen sovereign in our country would train 
his children with a similar inflexible wisdom, 
what a robust, healthy, and truly majestic po- 
tentate should we at length become, seated in 
million -fold unity on our august continental 
throne ! 

But the moral effect is far worse than the 
physical. In the first place, the temper is in- 
jured. The overloaded and distended system 
causes frequent uncomfortableness, and some- 
times severe pain : thus the naturally mild of 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 85 

w 

disposition become sensitive and irritable, and 
the constitutionally irascible are more readily 
developed into as fiery imps as unwise parenta 
need be tortured and punished by. In this way 
is started the selfishness of a vindictive spirit, 
which, in the distant future, may flame forth in 
deeds of cruelty and destruction. A base net- 
tle is cherished which pierces everybody that 
touches it, and whose prickles will be blown 
by occasional gusts of passion against all that 
come near. 

But this eating propensity is, in itself, a 
selfishness still lower down than the temper 
which it occasions ; and it is the broad stair, 
next to the steep descent, to more dangerous 
intemperance and to viler lust. It prepares the 
young to be more excessively dissipated after 
leaving the restraints and the oversight of home. 
Our large cities are thronged with young men 
who are at one stage or another of sensualism. 
Some are sinking down to the lowest dissolute- 
ness. Look into certain places on an evening, 
and there they are, indulging the depraved ap- 
petite ; not only eating the dainties which simple 
nature does not crave, but drenching and scorch- 
ing nature with liquid fire ; becoming, it may 
be, inebriates for life. Whence did they come ? 



86 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 



I 



Who are they ? Sons of the farmers, of the 
mechanics, of the traders, of the lawyers, of 
the doctors, of the legislators, and perhaps of the 
judges and governors, of the land. Ah me ! 
— must the humiliating confession be made? — 
some of them are quite likely to be the sons of 
the ministers of our churches. In many cases, 
these youths have been led to the brink of the 
gulfs of ruin by their own parents at home. 
They have been trained to think of and live for 
the palate. A city merchant informed me, that 
out of thirty acquaintances of his youth, clerks 
in neighboring stores, one-half died in early life 
of dissipation, and some of them were con- 
nected with the most respectable families of 
the State. 

One sabbath forenoon, while speaking in a 
country church on the temptations and dangers 
of city life, I observed a young man sitting 
uneasily, and coloring in the face. He absented 
himself from the afternoon service. He declared, 
as I was told, that he wouldn't go to meeting 
to hear a minister talk in that sort of way. 
He was then on a visit from Boston to his 
relatives. Within four weeks from that time, 
his corpse was brought from the city, and cast, 
dust to dust, near the church where he had so 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 87 

lately sat, angry at the preacher's truth. He 
had died of disease brought on by dissipation. 
Now, had these ruined youths been trained to 
the true uses of food, to a conscientious tempe- 
rance, from infancy up, how different, probably, 
would have been their fates ! How would they 
have blessed the restraining prudence of their 
parents through prolonged and healthy years ! 

Apparel is another bodily want ; and it is the 
occasion of an unheavenly selfishness in the form 
of vanity. Vanity says, " Don't look at him or 
her, but behold me ! " An early disposition is 
the love of finery, and the attention it attracts. 
The child hastens to exhibit some new article of 
attire or ornament. There may be a quite in- 
nocent pleasure in possessing it, and a wish for 
sympathy ; but, withal, there is likely to be an 
unamiable vanity. A little girl, some three 
years old, wore for the first time, in church, a 
dress with a pocket. She whispered, " Mother, 
do you think that Mr. " (naming the mini- 
ster) " knows that I have a pocket in my dress ?" 
There was here an incipient vanity which might 
grow to be monstrous. That child, left un- 
checked, coming to be the miss of sixteen, might 
trip and mince to church, with her fashions and 
her attractions uppermost in her mind. 



88 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

But no wonder that this vice should so bane- 
fully blossom out, when parents themselves so 
often nurture it from the earliest. To gratify 
their own vanity, how they bedeck the darling, 
and even overload with finery ! Some children 
seem like huge insects of the summer, — very 
aristocrats of the gaudy and gauzy tribes ; and, 
to use a phrase which will be understood, fit to 
be the " big-bugs " of the naturalist's cabinet. 
When this vice first shows itself, teach the true 
uses of apparel. If need be, take off and put 
away the new, and replace the old, till the de- 
sire for display shall be corrected. 

There is, however, no objection to the use of 
the beautiful in the attire of children ; but there 
must be adaptation to the age, or the beautiful 
will not be there, or at least its charm will have 
fled. How admirable is Nature in her simple 
flower-buds ! She reserves her large and far- 
seen fashions for the full, expanded bloom. 
Cannot parents apply this example, divinely 
ordained, to the living, priceless blossoms of 
their own households? 

Next, there are house, furniture, and style 
of living, as an occasion, not only of vanity, 
but of pride. It is by no means intended to 
disparage well-gotten wealth, and the elegance 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 89 

it affords. The eye was formed to be pleased. 
The Almighty designed and made things to 
please it. The tasteful arts are but the faint 
imitations of his own works. It is only the bad 
spirit which accompanies possessions and privi- 
leges that is to be censured and deprecated. 

At a school recess, a little bit of pretension 
puffs itself up, and exclaims, " Your father isn't 
as rich as my father is ; you don't live in so 
nice a house as I do." Who instilled such mise- 
rable folly into the heart of a child, if not the 
parents or other inmates of home ? Certain 
young ladies will not notice certain other ones 
in the street, though they are school compa- 
nions, belong to the same class in recitation, 
and are of equally proper manners, and perhaps 
of more refined character, because, forsooth, 
the fathers of these latter live in inferior style, 
and move in a different circle. Now, millions 
of wealth, the loftiest ancestry, and the most 
splendid fashion, cannot make such souls lovely 
or beloved, or truly happy. If death snatch 
their spirits from the corrupt but cherished 
flesh, can they be received among those heaven- 
ly ones who have been exalted in proportion to 
their humbleness, and are thought of and loved 
by others in proportion as they have forgotten 



90 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

themselves? cruel, cruel parents, with your 
own trusted breath to pufF up the tender, elastic 
soul into such swollen and repulsive deformity 
as pride ! 

Yery many of the " first people," as they are 
called, possess their privileges, it is hoped, with- 
out pride. Indeed, there are those whose lack 
of pretension, whose very humihty, might give 
lessons to all ranks beneath them. Here is 
an admirable example with which to close this 
topic. A gentleman of large inherited wealth, 
and of the best education and culture the 
country could afford, had two daughters at a 
school, conducted, not by an ambitious and 
showy, but by a most thoroughly educated 
and judicious teacher. The daughter of another 
gentleman, of hmited means and quite economi- 
cal living, — a bank or insurance clerk, perhaps, 
— was also an attendant ; but she was one of 
the best scholars in her class, of refined man- 
ners and amiable disposition. The two young 
ladies, on acquaintance with this schoolmate, 
seemed particularly pleased with her, and made 
her a special associate at recesses. The circum- 
stance excited attention and surprise. Those 
of similar position and pretensions with the 
young ladies ventured to inquire and remon- 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 91 

strate about the matter. " Why are you so 
intimate with this person ? " said they. '' Why 
do you so lower yourselves ? Her father's posi- 
tion in life is entirely different from that of 
yours, and his daughter can never move in the 
circle that you will." The reply was modestly 
made : " She is certainly equal to any one of 
the school in talent and character ; and we know 
no reason why we should not associate and be 
intimate with her, if we like her, as we happen 
to do." At length, the father of these young 
ladies came to the teacher, and made especial 
inquiries concerning the character of this favor- 
ite companion. Perhaps it had been hinted to 
him by meddlers, that his daughters were form- 
ing low associations. He, however, received the 
most satisfactory assurances from the teacher : 
so the intimacy continued uninterrupted. When 
the long summer vacation arrived, this noble- 
souled father, this thorough Christian gentle- 
man, invited his daughters' friend to spend the 
leisure weeks at his magnificent country seat, 
and gave her the opportunity of the best privi- 
leges of his own social life. He made no such 
invitation to those who thought it a degradation 
to be intimate with the excellent person whose 
parentage was altogether respectable, but whose 



92 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

rank the world had put a few notches lower, for 
no other reason than the lack of money and the 
position it affords. 

Education itself, that precious privilege, is 
made the occasion of developing the most in- 
tense selfishness. The prevalent stimulus to 
study is selfish emulation : higher place in the 
class, the medal or the book-prize, or other out- 
ward honors of scholarship, become the aim. 
Thus the true end of education is forgotten. 
No wonder that forceful, fierce ambition should 
so often manifest itself in after-life, or that po- 
litical aspiration and demagogism should possess 
many an otherwise noble soul with a very mad- 
ness. If love, self-forgetfulness, and humility 
make heaven, how can this fiery emulation and 
its bitter heart-burnings, and such worldly tower- 
ing -up, prepare for the sublime lowliness of 
heaven ? 

Here the remark may come in, that parents 
often make the acquirements of their children 
the occasion for displaying their own fond con- 
ceit, and, in doing so, set a harmful example to 
the child. You will scarcely have taken your 
seat in some houses, and have begun to speak of 
the children, before little Admirable must run 
and get his book, and show the gentleman how 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 93 

well he can read. Thus the visitor is compelled 
to witness the exploits of a poor little fellow at 
stammering and miscalling words ; and, withal, 
his remarkable dexterity at showing how mis- 
taken his doting parent is. 

After this early development of self, in con- 
nection with the goods of life, the evil cannot 
but put itself forth to the utmost in the acqui- 
sition of them. As these things and all other 
property are represented by money, the grasp- 
ing soul is concentrated upon this. Money in 
due degree, for good ends and by just means, 
is, of course, a proper object of pursuit ; but 
how has the true idea of it been perverted ! 
Good and use are at length overlooked, and a 
new passion, a new vice, has taken possession, 
— the love of money, as money ; and how early 
it appears ! The child hardly old enough to 
articulate gloats over his bits of coin. Even 
the best affections are transmuted into this 
money-passion. A boy spontaneously performs 
a trivial service (perhaps picks up your dropped 
handkerchief, and restores it), and you as sponta- 
neously offer him a piece of change. How he 
snatches it, and scuds away to his parents ! and 
how in spirit they snatch it too, in sympathy 
with his good fortune ! 



94 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

The true reward for a favor is, first, the sweet, 
loving impulse to do it, and then the agreeable 
consciousness of having done some little good. 
Every opportunity to render service to another 
is a God-send to the little heart. It opens that 
heart, and fits it for a larger sphere of good- 
doing at a maturer age. If a reward for such 
spontaneous favors be received, pure generosity 
is stifled, and the sordid motive of doing good 
for pay takes its place. 

I have, in my own personal experience, a 
most charming and impressive illustration of an 
opposite character, which I cannot forbear to 
bring in here from a volume where it is in 
print. 

" Early one summer morning, I was travelling 
in a chaise through this mountain-town.* I had 
arrived near the outskirts, when I fancied that 
I heard a singular noise ; but did not then stop 
or look out to see what it might be, as I was in 
particular haste to reach my destination. I drove 
rapidly on. But soon the noise again startled 
my ear, and seemingly the shrill scream of a 
human being. Still driving on, I leaned out of 
the vehicle to learn whence came the piercing 

* Dublin, N.H., on the north side of the Monadnock. 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 95 

sound. I then discovered a boy pursuing me at 
the top of his speed, and crying after me to stop ; 
which I now did. He came up nearly ex- 
hausted by half a mile's run, with his bosom all 
open, and his face all reddened with the heat, 
and reeking with perspiration ; and he panting- 
ly exclaimed, ' You are losing your trunk, sir ! ' 
At this information, I leaped out ; and surely my 
trunk was in a deplorable condition. It had 
been fastened beneath the axle-tree. But one 
of the straps had got broken, and it was dan- 
gling by the other, now almost wrested off, 
having been knocked against the stones, and 
dragged through dust and mud, till it was a 
sorry sight. I requested my benevolent in- 
former to stand at the horse's head till I should 
put it into safety. Of course, such a boy, or any 
boy, could not but do this under such circum- 
stances. When ready to start again, I held out, 
in spontaneous gratitude, a piece of money, of 
more tempting value than our smallest silver 
coin ; and, lo ! the little fellow drew back and 
straightened up, and with a keener eye, and al- 
most an offended tone, exclaimed, ^ Do you think 
I loould take ;pay for that ? ' I could not prevail 
on him to receive the least compensation. I 
went on my journey, rejoicing in the accident, 



96 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

although it was to cost me the repairing of my 
torn and bruised trunk. It had made known to 
me one magnanimous hoy. For how many much 
slighter favors had I received from the young, 
who capered away, insensible to the pleasure of 
doing a kindness, in the satisfaction of ' taking 
pay for that ' ! ' Ay,' thought I, ' this boy is an 
honor to the common school ; he is a Christian 
learner in my friend the minister's Sunday 
school ; he is a diligent reader of the juvenile 
library. Blessed pupil of a blessed pastor ! 
thy getting is the true and the best one, — that 
of understanding : to thee, wisdom is " the prin- 
cipal thing." ' How many, many times since 
have I thought of that boy, and wished that I 
knew his name, and could trace his onward 
course ! How many times, in my wanderings 
and stoppings within sight, even within the 
most distant glimpses of the peaked crown of 
that proud old hill-king, have I thought of that 
grand, that royal-spirited boy I That mountain, 
by natural association, is to me a most fit monu- 
ment to one magnanimity towering above many 
meannesses. Ye boys, and indeed ye men, of 
our country, to whom the moral of my story 
may apply, I pray you, when you shall perform 
a little favor spontaneously, or even by request, 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 97 

let your souls stand up in true nobility, in 
the heavenward grandeur of disinterestedness, 
and say in the spirit, ^ Do you think I would 
take pay for that ? ' '' ^ 

The manifestations of self, through cunning, 
duplicity, and positive acts of deception, easily 
come along after meanness. For instance, a boy 
swaps knives or pencils with another lad, and 
then boasts, with a sparkling eye and a chuck- 
ling voice, that he has got the best end of the 
bargain ! His parents, it may be, brighten and 
chuckle too at the early shrewdness and promis- 
ing thrift ; and thus encourage and spur him on. 
Now, this getting of the best end of the bar- 
gain knowingly, and through the unsuspecting 
ignorance of the other party, is a violation of 
the golden rule, " to do as we would be done 
by." It is worse : it is the breaking of the com- 
mandment, " Thou shalt not steal ; " for it is 
taking by stealth that for which there is given 
no equivalent. It is absolute theft in the eye 



* The people of the town, on seeing the incident in a publica- 
tion, were curious to know who the young hero might be. After 
several years, his name was discovered. He proved to be a poor boy 
who "lived out" at a farmer's to work for his living. His ac- 
quaintances at once exclaimed, " Well, it is just like him ! " Brief, 
simple, but most expressive eulogium, — " It is just like him ! " 

7 



98 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

of that Infinite Justice whicli gave the law on 
Sinai. The " best end of the bargain " is the 
worst end of it. Such a beginning of business 
may lead, at length, either to some great theft or 
enormous forgery, and to the State Prison. It 
may prepare the way for grand peculations from 
government, or for magnificent embezzlements 
from bank and railroad corporations, and all their 
infamous glory. 

Many forms of injustice prevail in the busi- 
ness world, of which human law takes no cog- 
nizance, but which are nevertheless violations 
of the divine law. The young, almost univer- 
sally, are educated into this injustice. Children 
are trained by the example of parents, and 
indeed by prevalent practice, to a cool, keen 
selfishness, and habitual unfairness in trade, in 
the following way: Articles on sale are of a cer- 
tain specific value when viewed in the relation 
of cost and of other values, and they ought to 
command a certain price ,* but how many are 
never willing to give a just price I They want 
the thing for a little less. Suppose a retail 
store. " Come, now : won't you fall a little ? 
You can afford to take a cent less, — only a 
cent." Sometimes even the half-cent is higgled 
for. Now, this half-cent is no more for the pur- 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 99 

cbaser to give than it is for the seller to lose ; 
and, in the long-run, it is the half-cents, more or 
less, on yards and pounds of goods, which make 
up much of the trader's gains or losses. Thus 
such people clip off, and press down and screw 
harder and harder, until they often drive the 
dealer himself to questionable expedients, in 
order to make his absolutely necessary profits. 
By such a spirit and example, children are edu- 
cated not only to a littleness which is disgusting, 
but to a wrong which is abhorrent. 

Inculcate on the young, by precept and prac- 
tice, the righteous rule of business, — "to live, 
and let live ; " or rather the great commandment 
of justice, — " Whatsoever ye would that men 
should do to you, do ye even so to them." 
One may claim of a seller a good article ; but, 
then, let him claim, in turn, its full value, and 
get it — of your son or daughter. " Ah ! " re- 
plies selfishness, in the guise of suspicion and 
caution, " in this way the buyer will lay himself 
open to be continually cheated and wronged." 
By no means. Justice, candor, and kindness, 
on his part, will be his best protection. Let a 
character for uprightness and liberality be once 
established with a dealer, and, in nine cases out 
of ten, he would put himself to inconvenience^ 



100 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

or even to loss, sooner than occasion incon- 
venience and loss to such a customer. He 
would abhor — at least, in good nature, he would 
disdain — to commit on him a fraud. Meanness 
is generally its own punishment. It provokes 
retaliation, and, somehow, gets " come up with " 
sooner or later. 

A somewSat ludicrous anecdote will illustrate 
this point. A customer at a country store, hav- 
ing supplied his wants, inquired, as it was near 
the new year, for the next almanac. The 
trader handed him the indispensable work. The 
price was asked. " Six cents," was the reply. 
^' Oh ! it is too much," the customer rejoined : 
" I can't give that." — " Yery well," said the 
trader ; and, stooping down, he brought from 
some by-place another copy, with the observa- 
tion, " Here is an almanac you may have for five 
cents." The customer, much pleased, paid the 
money, and took the article. In a day or two 
he returned to the store, with his purchase in 
hand, and, much excited, exclaimed, 'J Sir, you 
cheated me in this almanac. Why, there are 
only ten months in it : the other two are torn 
out ! " — "I knew that," replied the trader, very 
quietly, yet significantly ; " but you got all you 
paid for." 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 101 

An equally instructive incident comes from 
another experience : — 

" I had been accustomed," said a gentleman, 
" to purchase my grocery necessaries of a parti- 
cular trader in our village. One of my neigh- 
bors, on a time, hearing me mention the place of 
supply, exclaimed, " Oh ! don't go there : you 
will certainly get cheated ; for I don't succeed 
well at all with the man." I could not but think 
in my own mind, that the grocer also, on his 
part, failed to succeed well with my neighbor ; 
for my experience had been of quite a different 
kind. On one occasion, at the close of the year, 
we had a settlement of accounts, and squared 
up, as had been our custom. The trader then 
opened a new page, at the head of which he put 
my name ; but he wrote also what he had not 
written before, — Hon. before it. ' What do 
you mean by that ? ' said I. ' I have never held 
any office which gives me a claim to such a 
title.' — 'No matter,' said the trader: 'you are 
honorable ; and I have put it down on this 
account -book, and here it shall stay.'" This 
gentleman's experience is suggestive to the 
parental educator. For myself, I should cer- 
tainly prefer that a son should gain the reputa- 
tion, and win the unsolicited, unthought-of title. 



102 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

honorable, on account of his perfectly just deal- 
ing with his fellow-menj than to climb like a 
reptile, or rush like a vulture, to the highest 
office of a State, or even to the chief magistracy 
of the nation. 

Early home -circumstances, considered alto- 
gether trifling, are the tiny roots of a monstrous 
growth of immoralities in the future business- 
life. There are deceptions, trickish annoyances, 
and various unrebuked, at least unamended 
wrongs, between children themselves. There 
are falsehoods and artifices exercised toward 
parents. These, if discovered, are too lightly 
passed over. They are not brought into solemn 
judgment before the religion of Christ and the 
will of God. But worse : what evasions and 
subterfuges, prevarications and deceits, in social 
life, are often practised by parents themselves 
in the presence of their children ! Then what 
stratagem and double-dealing to manage the 
children on trying occasions ! How often are 
positive refusals not adhered to, but are melted 
away by pertinacious teasing ! Again : what 
threats which are never executed ! what pro- 
mises which are never performed ! Alas ! no 
wonder that human nature is so often, so early. 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 103 

and so effectually initiated into a life of heart- 
lessness, lying, dishonesty, and dishonor. 

I have thus exhibited some of the occasions 
and circumstances through which children de- 
velop dispositions and form habits of selfishness ; 
and, in connection, have given a few impressive 
contrasts. I would now present some examples 
of an opposite kind of training. First, then, as 
you believe in Christianity and in the heaven it 
reveals, teach a child, as early as possible, to 
forget himself; to do, and indeed to live, for 
others. As soon as he shall be able, let him 
pass with his little hand some needed article to 
another, and he shall have begun a life of bene- 
ficent industry. As soon as he can creep, let 
him go errands on all fours, — for instance, to 
carry some manageable thing, perhaps the news- 
paper, pinned to his clothing, to a person across 
the room, wanting it ; and he shall have possibly 
begun his journey across the continent, to carry 
civilization into some new territory; or, as a 
missionary, to set up the cross of Christianity 
among the far Heathen, and to give himself up 
a living sacrifice at its foot. 

Train a child to work, not by cold and stern 
compulsion or merely by the inducements of 
activity, but for the sake of being of service, 



104 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

of doing some little good. If there are no ser- 
vants in a family, there are numberless things 
in which boys and girls can be useful. Beauti- 
ful are their dispositions, blessed their lives, if 
they shall be affectionately helpful. There are 
thousands of wives and mothers, broken down 
by hard work and the various burdens of life : 
not only daughters, but sons also, should aid in 
making those burdens lighter. In the absence 
of daughters, things ordinarily done by them 
could be, and ought to be, done by sons. It is 
a mere notion, that this and that is girls' work ; 
and that, therefore, it is beneath hoy dignity to 
touch it. Whatever is of use is honorable ; 
especially if, through the performance, kind 
affections flow out. It adds to the dignity 
rather than detracts from it. He who, whether 
boy or man, shall honor his father and mother 
by doing them kind service, most particularly 
honors himself. 

Again : train up a child to such a pursuit as 
will add to human enjoyment beyond the per- 
son's own self. As the chief motive to such a 
pursuit, let not self-interest, but usefulness to 
others, be presented. When an apprenticeship, 
or preparation for business-life, is entered on by 
a youth, the idea should be strongly inculcated, 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 105 

and thoroughly wrought into the soul, that the 
avocation is designed by an all-embracing Provi- 
dence, not so much to enrich and elevate him- 
self, as it is that he may be of use to his brethren 
of the human race, equally God's children with 
himself. If one is industrious and prudent, self 
will be sufficiently taken care of at any rate 
The all -loving Father's object is to develop 
through certain uses, that love for our felloW' 
beings which not only makes the truest felicity 
but which turns all the energies of the man 
and all his external and internal possessions, to 
the best possible account. To forget self, and 
to love others, is to be like Divine Perfection : 
not only so, but to work is to be like the Divine. 
The Deity is the Infinite Worker. If he is the 
Almighty Master of the universe, he is also 
the Universal Servant : he ministers to the mi- 
nutest wants of all. Indeed, it is only through 
the multitudinous, the innumerable workings of 
his power, that his love is made known. So far 
as a human being is idle and useless, so far has 
he removed himself from the image and like- 
ness in which he was made, and from the felici- 
ties that belong to his nature. 

The young man who does nothing but saunter 
about town, and while away his time in trivial 



106 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

conversation or on superficial literature ; or the 
young woman who takes her daily promenade for 
mere show, who makes her calls for cold eti- 
quette or frivolous gossip, and wastes the rest of 
her time on the last new novel and in the cur- 
rent amusements, — is a sort of moral monster. 
The very God who made them is every moment 
teaching them a lesson of industry ; for he tends 
their very heart-beatings by his own active and 
ever-present energies. If he stop his work in 
their idle bodies, they die. 

Again : I would train up the young with such 
dispositions to usefulness, that the desire for it 
should never cease while life and energy con- 
tinue. I honor the old merchant who still sticks 
to his business, and makes his accumulations to 
the very last, if he only does it, not for the 
love of money, but for the adding of means to 
means that he may do good, and communicate 
abroad. 

The very idiot who has a heart to feel for 
human want and suffering, and has willing hands 
to relieve according to his ability, is a thousand- 
fold more to be respected than the man who 
lives for nothing but to reach out after money ; 
who grasps all he in any way can, and then 
holds it all close to himself; thinking of it as 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 107 

a possession of his own, and not as a means of 
usefulness to others. 

Many years ago, I resided in a most excellent 
family, a member of which was a weak-minded 
boy, eight or ten years of age. He could hardly 
put together words enough to make a single full 
sentence, he was so defective in ideas, or at least 
in speech. Indeed, he could not pronounce his 
own name ; which was Francis. So he called 
himself by the more convenient monosyllable, 
" Boy." But he had a most gentle nature ; a 
large and abounding heart, flowing out most 
sweetly to all around him. Many years sped 
away, and I hardly knew how they sped with 
the tenderly remembered Francis. At length, 
meeting a relative, I made inquiry after him. 
The reply was, that he had for a long time been 
at board in an excellent home ; that, though a 
man in stature and twenty-six years of age, he 
could read no better and could speak no better 
than when I knew him as a child. Indeed, he 
could not yet utter his own name, but still, in re- 
ferring to himself, said " Boy." " But," continued 
my informant, " he is, though an idiot, good; he 
is kind ; he is very loving. It is a great pleasure 
to him to be taken on occasional visits to the 
alms-house of the town ; and there he makes 



108 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

such presents to the poor inmates as suits his 
benevolent fancy." 

The lady mentioned an incident of recent 
occurrence, which to me was peculiarly touch- 
ing ; and for the sake of which, as a special 
illustration, I have now brought this person to 
notice. " In the course of last winter," said she, 
" an old man, who lived alone with his wife in 
the neighborhood, died. Soon after the burial, 
some women, in the presence of Francis, were 
conversing on the subject of the old man's de- 
parture, and the lonely situation of the widow. 
Among other things, they wondered who now 
would cut and split and carry in the poor wo- 
man's wood. Immediately Francis was heard 
to exclaim, ^ Boy knows.' His words, however, 
excited at the time no attention. At length, it 
was remarked by the neighbors, that Francis 
every day, regularly, made a visit to the widow's. 
The people began to be curious, so invariable, 
and in all weathers, was his going to the house. 
Inquiry was made ; and it was found that he 
went to cut and split and carry in the widow's 
wood." Thus, while these neighbors were won- 
dering who would do it, and while their own sons 
should have thought to do it, — indeed, should 
have been so trained by them as to have rejoiced 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 109 

to do it, — the blessed charity was performed 
by Francis, the idiot. 

When the Framer of bodies and the Father 
of spirits shall deliver that beautiful soul from 
its clayey bondage, how will it soar up and up 
to the region of celestial affection, unspeakably 
above those who know, but who, with their com- 
petent strength, do not ; who possess, but who 
of their overflowing abundance give not ! 

If the young shall be rightly trained in the 
home, and especially if this training is second- 
ed by the Sunday school, they shall begin even 
in childhood to do, according to a child's measure 
and means, what they shall perform in their 
opulent age with a wide-sweepmg and a most 
bountifully dropping hand. The trifling contri- 
butions of children, a single cent or a half-dime, 
on each occasion, will, if heart and wealth shall 
grow together, become in. the distant future 
the hundred -dollar donation, or the thousand- 
dollar bestowment in some grand philanthropy ; 
or, it may be, the hundred-thousand-dollar legacy 
to some noble institution ; and this not for show, 
not for the world's praise, but from that humble, 
hearty love of doing good which is its own 
blessing and richest reward, whether the world 
knows and praises it or not. 



110 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

Again : it is in tlie home, and under true 
Christian nurture, that the missionaries of the 
cross to Heathen lands are best prepared. Sup- 
pose a child trained to read God's word, to learn 
concerning his heavenly Father therefrom, and 
the beautiful happy home of many mansions 
prepared in heaven for his earthly children. 
Let him be opportunely informed that millions of 
human beings in other parts of the world are 
without the knowledge of this dear, loving 
Father, and have no idea of this pure and 
blessed home, — are utterly ignorant of that 
Saviour Son who came into the world to deliver 
from ignorance and sin all who might hear of 
and follow him : that child might be so im- 
pressed as to melt with pity toward those 
benighted worshippers of stone and wood, who 
are so utterly without the true God in the 
world. With such appliances as a noble Chris- 
tian mother could make to the little heart, how 
might he be formed to be another Judson, from 
the earliest dew upon his life's bloom, and at 
length bear fruits for the feeding of multitudes 
in distant lands I 

I knew of such a mother. The following 
circumstances occurred in one of the interior 
cities of Massachusetts, where I once, for a 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. Ill 

short time, resided. The example will plead for 
a true Christian education far better than any 
theories or the most eloquent setting of them 
forth. Two little boys had been told by their 
religiously faithful mother of the destitution of 
the Heathen as to Christian privileges ; espe- 
cially of their having had no Bible, — that book 
which the children loved so well to read, and 
from which they were so constantly and inte- 
restedly taught concerning the heavenly Father, 
and that Jesus who took little children in his 
arms and blessed them. So it came into their 
compassionate hearts to give such little moneys 
as they might occasionally obtain to the Bible 
Society, of which their mother informed them ; 
thus doing some little part in sending the good 
book to the Heathen. Of course, they could 
hardly comprehend the full scope and meaning 
of such an enterprise ; but they had knowledge 
sufficient to light the way to their continually 
growing hearts. At length, there was esta- 
blished in that city an Orphan Asylum, where 
children who were without parents, or who, 
through intemperate fathers, were perhaps worse 
off, might have a comfortable home for a time. 
Somehow, the little b.oys' sympathies became 
deeply interested in this institution. Perhaps 



112 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

it was because they could see with their own 
pitying eyes the wretched suiferers in the 
street who needed just such a refuge. So, with 
their mother's consent, the bits of money which 
they had been accustomed to drop, as they could 
get them, into the aperture of their tight box 
for the Bible cause, were now devoted to the 
use of the Orphan Asylum. 

But at length the Lord wanted these chil- 
dren, and took them to himself. They were, I 
think, smitten with some epidemic, and died 
within two weeks of each other, respectively, 
at five and three years of age. Their own spe- 
cial contribution-box was then opened, and the 
sum of two dollars found, which had fallen from 
their little hands, and been devoted to the Or- 
phans' Home. Beautiful, inviting, blessed exam- 
ples of parental training to benevolence and 
philanthropy ! Oh, could the millions of chil- 
dren in our plentiful and privileged country be 
so educated, how would a thousand, where 
there is now one, go forth to civilize, to Chris- 
tianize, the Heathen world ! — and how would 
hundreds of thousands, Avho at the same time 
accumulate means by prosperous industry, shed 
their moneys like sunshine and shower-drops to 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 113 

aid them in making the wilderness glad, and the 
desert blossom as the rose ! 

I have something more to add about the elder 
of the two boys. It was remarkable how he 
exhibited the ruling passion, if we may so call 
it, if not in death, at least in sickness, and as 
long as he well could. In the commencement of 
his disease, although compelled to stay at home 
from school, he was yet well enough to range 
the house. But how marked the contrast be- 
tween his method of amusement or his child- 
work and that of the majority of children who 
might be kept in similar durance ! He put his 
school-books into his little satchel, and imagined 
himself a col porter carrying good Christian 
books to the destitute inhabitants of the newly 
settled West, in imitation of modes of action 
which he had read of in the religious papers, or 
heard about from- his parents or at the Sunday 
school. As if going from house to house, he 
would knock at the door of a room ; then, as if 
hearing an expected voice, enter, and make his 
salutations to the imaginary inmates, courteously 
inquiring if they would like to take some good 
books which had been sent by some excellent 
people for their use. Thus he proceeded from 
room to room in this beautiful, evangelic play, 

8 



114 MANAGEMENT OF THE SELFHOOD. 

until the very moment, for aught I know, when 
he was cast upon that bed from which he 
arose, in his spirit-form, to meet the welcoming 
angels. 

The Son of God bows himself down from the 
right hand of the. infinite throne to bless such 
children, and to breathe on them his Spirit. 
Parent, he would thus do to jonr own little 
ones : he only waits for you to bring them nearer 
to the heavenly courts. 



PASSAGES FROM A LECTURE. 



I. — G I F T S. 



TT is customary in many families, perhaps in 
-*■ most of any considerable culture, to inter- 
change gifts, especially on the usual annual 
occasions. This is well. By these tokens, the 
affections are drawn out, interwoven, and bound 
fast. But it should be understood, that it is not 
so important for the parent to bestow on the 
child, as for the child to bestow on the parent. 
Filial love is enhanced far more by giving than 
by receiving. In this there is something much 
better than accepting, and being grateful. The 
affectionate heart must prompt, the excited 
intellect must contrive, and the diligent hand 
must execute. There must be a series, perhaps 
a long series, of impulses, thoughts, and actions. 
All these have reference to the beloved relative, 
and they all develop the heart more and more 
toward him. The more numerous the antece- 



118 PASSAGES FROM A LECTUEE. 

dents to the bestowment, the more developed is 
the love which prompts the beautiful attention. 
I have a true story charmingly appropriate to 
the subject : — 

The celebrated Scotch phrenologist, Mr. 
George Combe, when travelling on the conti- 
nent of Europe, fell in with a distinguished 
musician as a fellow-passenger in a stage-coach. 
The artist remarked to him, while speaking of 
his profession, that he had a son who was as 
accomplished a performer as himself on the 
violin, his favorite instrument. " I discovered," 
said he, " that he had a remarkable talent for 
music when he was about six years of age. On 
one of my birthday mornings, I was awakened 
from sleep, at break of day, by hearing my 
favorite tune performed on my favorite instru- 
ment most enchantingly. In delightful amaze- 
ment, I tossed away the clothes, and looked out ; 
and what did I behold ? — my darling boy thus 
making a birthday present to his father. 

'^ I found, on explanation, that, months before, 
he had obtained the instrument from his mother, 
together with her consent to his little plan: so 
he practised that one tune particularly and con- 
tinually, till he had perfected himself in it. 
Then, when the day came and the dawn first 



GIFTS. 119 

gleamed, lie stole to bis father's bedside, and 
poured bis birthday present into bis ear. 

" And what did you do, sir ? " inquired Mr. 
Combe. 

" I wept." 



120 PASSAGES FROM A LECTURE. 



II. — BAD COMPANIONSHIP. 



"PARENTS often complain of the bad com- 
-*- panionship to which their children are 
exposed. " If onr boys," say they, " could only 
have proper companions, it would be easy 
enough to manage them ; and all would go 
right." To such complainers, let it be said that 
there is one method of securing good compa- 
nionship, which is not sufficiently thought of. 
Let parents themselves be companions to their 
sons and daughters, and the best of companions 
too. The public-house or the village-store is no 
place for a father's leisure time. Home is his 
proper place ; his family, his richest possession ; 
and training and making happy his children, his 
appointed and his highest work. It should be 
his most delightful work. Let not his private 
reading absorb all his time, while the children 
cower stilly in the corner, or run riot without 



BAD COMPANIONSHIP. 121 

disturbing his abstractedness. Let him join 
them at times in their juvenile literature, sym- 
pathize with them in its entertainments, and aid 
them to apply its instructions. Indeed, the 
little golden cups of genius, proffered now by 
many eminent writers, cannot but refresh and 
nurture even the adult mind. 

Again, let the father — let both parents con- 
descend to mingle in the children's pastimes, 
and they will enjoy such playfellows full as well 
as those of their own age. Ever let them 
remember, however, to leave their play without 
having lost any of the strength or the dignity of 
parentage. 

A highly respected merchant, speaking of his 
own methods of discipline, remarked that he 
never had the least difficulty from his children's 
wandering off with bad companions, or wishing 
to wander. " We take care," said he, " fre- 
quently to invite, for an evening, virtuous and 
most unexceptionable young acquaintances to 
our house. We join most heartily in the juven- 
ile sports. Indeed we task our own minds to 
invent new games for our mutual recreation ; 
and truly we do succeed in making home the 
happiest place in all the world to our chil- 
dren." 



122 PASSAGES FROM A LECTURE. 

Another gentleman, careful as to the exposure 
of his sons, adopts especial means to keep them 
from bad associations on holiday occasions. For 
instance : if there is to be no great public cele- 
bration on a Fourth of July in his little city, 
and yet the population are all loose abroad, he 
would keep his own sons at home. So he gets 
up a celebration- of Independence within his 
own domestic domain. He prepares, in connec- 
tion with his children, a regular programme of 
exercises. He constitutes himself the president 
of the day, and makes an oration. Then the 
whole family contrive to get up toasts. One 
son is a toastmaster ; and another son writes an 
ode, as he is something of a poet. The whole 
celebration is concluded by a few fireworks in 
the yard. In the mean time, the star-spangled 
banner waves over the scene. Thus his chil- 
dren are trained to consider, that home is not 
only the most patriotic, but for them the happi- 
est, place in the country. Enviable fathers ! 
would that thousands of others -would go and do 
likewise ! 



IRRITABILITY OF TEMPER. 123 



III. — lEHITxiBILITY OF TEMPER. 



rriHERE is perhaps as much fault in the man- 
-■- agement of a child's temper as in any one 
thing relating to domestic discipline. When 
the temper of a quite young child is once 
roused, he is a perfect rebel. Nothing but ab- 
solute strength can restrain his squirming body. 
He cannot be reasoned with at this age, and 
especially in this condition. What can be done ? 
Nothing but to wait till the little tempest has 
gone down, as we wait for that of the weather 
to get exhausted. Let no perturbed feelings 
appear in the actions or faces of bystanders, if 
it can possibly be helped. Especially let the 
person in immediate care strive for patience in 
the heart, and serenity on the countenance. 
Let there be soft, sweet soothings, — no loud 
exclamations. Sometimes the attention may be 
diverted to some attractive object, and the trou- 



124 PASSAGES FROM A LECTURE. 

ble pass away. But be sure that there shall be 
no responsive excitement of any kind in others 
around. Every child is born with the resentful 
emotion slumbering in his nature. With all 
care, it will sometimes start forth. But love 
and a wise self-possession will be adequate to 
the emergency. 

Above all others, parents should not put to 
this element the kindling spark of their own 
irascible dispositions. Yet how often is this 
the case ! The child, for instance, is at his 
interesting work, — mischief so called ; and he 
breaks a choice vase, or soils some fancy-work. 
Now, the parent is any thing but the self-pos- 
sessed and patient one that provokes not chil- 
dren to wrath. To be startled at the accident 
is pardonable ; but what a look ! what a tone ! 
Ah ! what a hand on that unintentional misdoer ! 
Then the child, catching the baleful spirit, — 
with what look and tone and action he images 
back the angry parent ! How is the tender, the 
sweet, and the lovely scorched and withered away 
by such outbursts of the nether elements ! 

" But I can't help this temper " is the excuse. 
" I inherited it from my own parents : they didn't 
manage it well in my own childhood. Indeed I 
wish I could govern it as I should." Can you 



IRRITABILITY OF TEMPER. 125 

not do it, my friend? Let us see. Suppose 
you have company, much-respected friends, and 
a vase is broken or some fancy-work soiled ; then 
how soft the admonition ! The very scolding is 
as sweet as music ; and the visitors go away 
with the idea and exclamation, " What an amia- 
ble disposition ! " 

Your excuse is, that you cannot maintain 
calmness under a sudden excitement of feeling. 
As to this, let us have another illustration : A 
careless father leaves his naked razor on the 
table, on some brief absence from the room. 
The little child is entertaining himself with his 
own resources. The mother, that mother who 
was yesterday so hasty spirited, is occupied 
with her affairs. At length, her eye catches a 
glimpse of the little experimenter ; and, behold ! 
he, curious creature, wishing to know something 
about razors, has the glittering implement in 
his hand. His tender finger is within a hair's 
breadth of the fearful edge. Well^ she is sud- 
denly surprised, far more than yesterday : she 
is dreadfully alarmed. But does she start and 
spring, and startle the unconscious innocent? 
Does she scream out and catch hold ? Oh, no ! 
At the least joggle of that tiny, unsteady hand, 
the finger may slip, and there will be a bloody 



126 PASSAGES FEOM A LECTURE. 

gash ; or the implement may drop on his tender 
foot, and he will be maimed for life. What 
now ? " Hold it fast, darling ; let mother have 
it; hold it fast." What astonishing self-posses- 
sion ! How engaging her smile ! how winning 
her tones ! and her tread is as soft as a rose-leaf 
lighting on the verdure beneath ; and the child, 
charmed and drawn by such sweet, motherly 
magnetism, renders up the deadly thing, and is 
safe. Now, why cannot this parent realize, that 
the pricking temper, the deeply cutting anger, 
indulged over and over again by the child, 
makes wounds in the tender spiritual frame- 
work, which, hidden from the world's eye, may 
last on and last on, and be very sore, long after 
gashes from inanimate steel shall have been 
healed ? Woe to that mother or father, woe to 
that elder sister or brother, whose own uncon- 
trolled temper shall intensify or occasion such 
anguish in the young and helpless soul ! 



CHILDREN AT TABLE. 127 



IV. — CHILDREN AT TABLE. 



nnHERE is one time and one place at which 
-*- an indulged and mismanaged family gene- 
rally exhibit about their worst. It is the meal- 
time and the table. How often are they the 
occasion at which the lower nature in the child, 
the animal, manifests its claws, its teeth, and its 
quarrelsome voracity ! The call is given for the 
morning, mid-day, or evening repast, — no mat- 
ter which ; and now how the creatures rush to 
their feeding ! What a scraping and squeaking 
of chairs, as they drag them up or pull them 
back ! What rattle and racket, as they creep 
up or tumble on ! Then what hastening to the 
onset ! — cries for this or that ! or, without a 
cry, they dash into one thing, or slash across 
another. Then there is the hue perhaps, espe- 
cially at the daintier articles, " Mother, he's 
getting it almost all : I sha'n't have any.'' The 



128 PASSAGES FROM A LECTURE. 

reply is snapped back : " I say I'm not getting 
it all ; but you got it almost all yesterday, and 
I'm going to have my share to-day." Indeed, 
all law and order, if there ever were any, are 
entirely upset ; and perhaps some dishes are up- 
set too. 

There is no more strength of authority in that 
distracted and custom-hardened mother than 
there is in a wreath of steam curling up from 
the hot cookery. It is possible that the father's 
grum voice and stern look may command order ; 
or, very likely, they may not. He perhaps con- 
siders the meals, and the management thereat, 
the mother's affair, unless the uproar becomes 
quite insupportable. 

Then he simply exclaims, " Pshaw, pshaw ! 
what a noise you make ! " And he meekly puts 
down his food with Yankee, tavern-like velocity, 
and scuds out of his own home, away from his 
own empire, as if to save his ears. 

As it regards these unmannerly and unman- 
ageable children at the table, there is one simple 
rule. It is this : If a child does not come quietly, 
and take his own proper place, and there wait 
till he is helped ; and then, if he should not be 
satisfied with what he is helped to in ordinary 
circumstances, — indeed, should he behave in 



CHILDREN AT TABLE. 129 

any way such as would put you to the blush 
(with company), — send him away instantly. 
Do not threaten, as the majority of parents do, 
^^ You shall leave the table, if you don't behave 
better. I tell you, you shalV^ What cares he ? 
He knows it is nothing but breath : he has heard 
the threat ever since he can remember. No : 
let the rule be understood and established ; 
let it be acted on as instantaneously as the 
report follows the flash of a gun, — only with 
perfect gentleness, as well as decision, on your 
part. There should be no harshness of voice, 
or roughness of hand : indeed there will be no 
need of it, if such shall be the well-understood 
rule. 

It may be said, that the child, by some inad- 
vertence, may make an unintentional mistake. 
Very well : then the certain penalty will prevent 
future carelessness. This would avert, perhaps, 
a similar carelessness and ill manners, and con- 
fusion of countenance, when there shall be 
company. Indeed, so train your child, and it 
may certainly be done, that you shall just mo- 
tion with your finger for him to leave the table, 
and he shall instantly obey and be gone ; and all 
so quietly, that the persons present, possibly, 
shall be first made aware, by his vacant place, 

9 



130 PASSAGES FEOM A LECTURE. 

that he has left. Thus, under all circumstances 
at the table, you are at ease ; you have no fear ; 
and your children are being formed at once to 
easy and appropriate manners, whatever be the 
company. 

Do not, however, follow the example of a 
brother-clergyman. " I have complied with your 
rule already," he remarked, as I was commend- 
ing this method of discipline. " I have sent my 
children away for bad behavior. But I find they 
like nothing better ; for they have then a capital 
time in the kitchen with the maids." — " Did 
you send them into the kitchen ? " I asked in 
reply. — " Oh, yes ! where else should they go ? " 
— " Not there," I rejoined ; " for, while you and 
the mother are eating the pudding, they will 
there be eating the pie or the cake, or whatever 
nice bit the good-humored girls can hunt up to 
tickle their palates, and gain their favor. Oh, 
no ! that is not the way. Put each in a corner 
by himself, with no fellowship from anybody, or 
any thing but his own memory and heart and 
conscience. Let him feel how very lonely and 
how very cold it is to be shut away from the 
genial table, and the warm, loving hearts around; 
and such discipline will not often need to be 
repeated." 



CHILDREN AT TABLE. 131 

Why should there not be perfect propriety of 
manners at home, and in all its unguarded priva- 
cy, as well as anywhere else ? There should 
certainly be respectful manners and language 
to parents there, and particularly at the table. 
There should be courtesy also to brothers and 
sisters ; and here is a very special opportunity, 
which ought not to be neglected. Indeed, the 
table is about the best possible schooling-place 
for manners. Every day, regularly, it presents 
opportunity for theory and practice. The table 
is the place where the sweetest family affections 
may be cultivated, and the heart flow around 
from one to another, as nowhere else. Every 
meal should present something new of intelli- 
gence brought by those who come from abroad. 
With a little effort, with a little regard for the 
great ends of existence, certainly this might be 
realized to an extent far beyond what has ever 
been before in the majority of families. Let the 
meal be the simplest : should necessity compel, 
it may be nothing but bread and fruits ; and yet 
there may be as rich a pastime to the intellect 
and heart as the most abundant wealth, or even 
royal revenues, could afford. 

The table is the special place and scene of 
what is called " hospitality." This word gene- 



132 PASSAGES FROM A LECTURE. 

rally has reference to those who come in from 
without ; but it may have a higher meaning, and 
be applied to those who abide together within. 
Each family, and loving and beloved soul in it, 
may have at the table, and at every meal, an- 
other and new occasion for fresh hospitality to 
the dear souls around. This consists in utter- 
ance, with the common desire to entertain, or in 
listening, with a desire to be entertained ; for 
it is hospitable, as well as courteous, to listen, — 
inasmuch as, when one thinks he can do good 
by speech, he likes to be heard. How beautiful 
might these table-manners be, in all they com- 
prehend as to the mental as well as the material 
man ! 

Thus a family would be prepared for pro- 
priety, grace, kind feeling, anywhere. They 
might sit down in the humblest abode, or with 
the rudest people, and still put them at perfect 
ease ; and this without at all participating in 
their rudeness. They might sit in the highest 
circles of our country, indeed with nobles and 
princes, and make themselves agreeable and 
respected by their charming gracefulness, joined 
with their pure Christian simplicity. 

Finally : do not forget the rule, Send them 

INSTANTLY AWAY. 



SUGGESTIONS 



THE DISCIPLINE OF THE OBSERVING 
FACULTIES. 



NOTE. 



To leave moral training for the present, attention is asked to a 
subject not so absolutely important as the preceding, but one in 
which parents should have a lively interest. Many years ago, the 
present writer, in lecturing on early intellectual culture, earnestly 
urged the discipline of the observing faculties. He then had not the 
remotest idea, that this discipline, as an indispensable requisite, 
would be so long neglected ; for it was at that time practised in 
European schools, and advocated also by eminent writers in our 
own country. More than twenty years, however, have elapsed since 
his first humble efforts and sanguine expectations ; and yet but little 
progress comparatively has been made in this direction. In prepar- 
ing this volume, it came forcibly to mind, that a much-needed help 
might be rendered to the family, and indirectly to the school, by 
some practical suggestions on this part of education. By the aid of 
a single written passage and some brief notes, some former utter- 
ances, which were mostly extemporaneous, have been introduced 
into this work, interspersed with fresh matter suggested by more 
recent circumstances. 

It may be further premised, to prevent any possible misconcep- 
tion, that it is not intended to crowd upon childhood what is above 
its ability. Some of the proposed exercises are perhaps more 
appropriate to youth. Most of them, however, might be entered 
into by children of various ages, in company with the parents them- 
selves, all in mutual cultivation of the observing faculties. These 
suggestions are presented by one who has read and thought much 
on these subjects, and who has no interest but the best good of the 
community, older and younger. Will parents, will all readers, 
consider them with candor, and ask themselves, without any sort of 
prejudice, whether they are not sustained by reason and plain com- 
mon sense? Most especially are they entreated to observe their 
bearing on success in business and most of the practical affairs in 
life. 



SUGGESTIONS 



THE DISCIPLINE OF THE OBSERVING 
FACULTIES. 



THE BEGINNING. 

ri^HE intellectual development of the human 
-*■ being begins as soon as he can open his 
eyes, and put forth his little hand, — as soon as 
his senses come in contact with the material 
world. From this time onward, he is continually 
gaining knowledge, and being prepared for his 
future of life, usefulness, and enjoyment. It is 
said, that all the simple elements of knowledge 
and the best part of man's education are obtained 
by the time he is five years of age. These foun- 
dations are mainly laid at home. The work is, 
or should be, under the supervision of the 
parents. This education, however, goes on, 
whether they attend to it or not. Indeed, the 
child will be continually educating himself. It 
may be truly said, that the first and the most 
important part of man's intellectual culture, as 
things have been, is self-culture. Now, this 



136 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

fostering from kindly nature, this forth-putting 
and forth-grasping of the infant faculties, may 
be exceedingly assisted by the parents and 
other older members of the family, if they did 
but think of it, and would but give themselves 
to it. Help, in this primary home institution, is 
as valuable as it is in the public seminaries to 
which the mind is afterward introduced. In 
the majority of homes, however, this assistance 
is casually and poorly rendered. It is because 
parents have the notion that they have nothing 
to do with intellectual development. This they 
suppose belongs only to the schools. If a child 
asks a question about any thing new to his 
curiosity, he may be kindly answered. If he 
persistently puts many questions, he is patiently 
borne with, or perhaps hastily hushed or snapped 
off. The parents have not the least suspicion, 
that, in replying to such questions, they are 
really exercising tutorships and professorships 
as important, to say the least, as any in college. 
Indeed, it may be affirmed with absolute truth, 
that as schools have generally been conducted, 
especially for little children, the education mostly 
stops at the school threshold ; at least, it begins 
to be exceedingly hindered, as will plainly ap- 
pear. 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 137 



KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT BOOKS. 

Just watch a babe, and see what Nature, or 
rather his own divinely devised constitution, 
prompts him to do ; and let us gather useful 
hints from the observation. As soon as there is 
any visual discernment, there is a separation of 
one thing from another, and the reception of dis- 
tinct ideas. The little one leaves the maternal 
lap, for what ? — to work, and to get knowledge 
to prepare him for more and more work. He 
creeps about the room, not only for the pleasure 
of muscular action, but to seek for new objects 
to his curiosity ; hunting for prey, if we may so 
speak, as food to his awakened and craving 
perceptions. Every thing he gets hold of is a 
subject of interest, — a fund of entertainment ; 
and, though his mother perhaps thinks not of it, 
it is a source of most valuable instruction. We 
cannot just yet say of him, that " he who runs 
may read ; " but we may say, that he who creeps 
can, — can read the great book of perceptible 
and practical knowledge open boundlessly before 
him, just as fast and far as he can get at it. 
Toeing and kneeing it along, he lays hold of 
every thing within the touch and the crook 



138 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

of his fingers. Why ? he wants knowledge, and 
he will have it. First, the thing, — the indivi- 
dual : it is separate from some other thing he 
perceives, and he wants to know about it as 
another and distinct object. Then the several 
perceptive powers come into action ; finding 
out the various qualities, — figure, color, size, 
weight, — as they are peculiar to each indivi- 
dual thing. Thus the child ranges through the 
room ; and, when in due time he mounts to 
the top of his feet, he runs about the house, 
and soon out-doors, and then round about the 
premises, all the time after knowledge, — know- 
ledge of objects, qualities, operations, uses. Be- 
fore the little looker and hunter is four years 
old, he is acquainted with hundreds of things, — 
perhaps, we might say, thousands. He knows 
nothing about the book, it may be ; but is he 
deficient in language ? By no means : objects 
are distinguished by names ; qualities, by appro- 
priate terms. What riches of language are his, 
even now, though he may never have been at 
school, and cannot read a word ! All this time, 
he has been in training for the duties and enjoy- 
ments of maturer life. He has been studying 
the Creator's perfect works, and unconsciously 
finding the steps which lead up to the Most 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 139 

"Wise and Most Loving. He has been acquaint- 
ing himself with the things also made by human 
hands, and examining the materials of which 
they are composed. This is in preparation for 
the time when he himself shall make similar 
things, and will need accurate knowledge of 
fabrics and materials as to qualities and fitness 
for specific purposes. 

INDUSTRIAL EFFORTS. 

Nay, farther, our little beginner at life is 
something more than a learner : he is a maker. 
He is at his mechanics too. See him putting 
this with that in rude efibrts at construction ! 
Give him a dozen blocks, and he is in absolute 
blessedness at work ; building up and pulling 
down, and altering, his wall or house, or what- 
ever else he may be striving to imitate. How 
wonderfully industrious, imitative, and construct- 
ive ! He wants to do every thing he sees others 
do. Give him little tools, fitted to his little fing- 
ers, and how delighted ! How he skips off, all 
glee, to his miniature business ! All these appli- 
cations of his strength, and trials of his skill, are 
instincts and impulses to prepare him for the 
labors, duties, and pleasures of life. And the pa- 
rents ought all the time to sympathize with 



140 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

him ; lending a hand, now and then, to help just 
enough and no more ; catching hints from in- 
structive Nature, and carrying out her plans far 
beyond what the child's unassisted mind could 
think of in his own behalf. But they do no such 
thing. On the contrary, they cut off the little 
learner from the very education he was getting, 
as well as he could, almost all alone. They 
practically declare, " Nature, you do not know 
as much as old usage does, — usage begun in 
ignorance, and continued in stupidity." 

AN ABUSE OF NATURE. 

But let us more particularly consider what is 
done. Oh the sad change which comes over 
this childhood's dream, or rather over this con- 
tented, sweet reality ! This is what we do, — 
we, grown-up and pretendedly grown-wiser peo- 
ple : we catch up the active, looking, learning, 
working, and manufacturing, happy little crea- 
ture, and clap him, together with twenties, 
thirties, forties, or fifties besides, into a wooden 
box, hardly, in some instances, large enough to 
hold them without jamming and hurting one 
against the other ; and fasten him upon a seat, 
out of the reach of the many objects he has been 
in the midst of, and which he has been doing 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 141 

with, as Nature intended. Yes, tliere we fasten 
him, or permit our agent, the school-committee 
or the school-teacher, to do it ; and we make him 
bend his neck, and fix his eyes on a plain, dry- 
surface of paper. This he must not cut, fold, 
crumple, or variously shape, in the way of cul- 
tivating his manufacturing abilities. No : he 
must look straight down upon this metamorpho- 
sis of cotton. Were it but the rags out of which 
it came, many-shaped, many-hued, there would 
be something to hold the eye ; but what does he 
see now? Words, words, words; little, black, 
immovable images, which he cannot get his 
fingers under. What cares he for them? Na- 
ture made him to care for things, and for words 
too, just so far as they stand for the things he 
has to do with, or can have any clear idea of. 
He, indeed, has an appetite, if we may so speak, 
for words, so far as they convey any ideas ; but 
we do not consult this appetite, but give him 
the words all tasteless of meaning. When I say 
this, I do not mean to convey, that no explana- 
tions at all are ever given, but that none scarcely 
are given, in a large majority of schools, take 
the country through, in immediate connection 
with the things to which they belong. Before 
the child enters school, it is always things ; then, 



142 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

words. At school, it is first words, and then 
things ; that is, if the pupil shall happen to come 
across them. Otherwise, he must go without 
such substantial acquaintance. Now, this ought 
not so to be. This period, lent by Nature to 
prepare for future industry and livelihood, ought 
not to be so unprofitably and wretchedly spent. 
In all common sense and true philosophy, this 
paper-deadening, ink-blinding delusion should be 
put away. But what shall take its place ? Re- 
alities, life, thought, action, intelligence ; just 
what the child has been forced to leave at his 
own home. This might be done, and how easily 
and cheaply done besides ! Really it would not 
cost, on the whole, so much as school-weariness 
or school-hate costs, when it breaks over bounds, 
and runs wild into mischief. 

PKOFITABLE SCHOOLING. 

Let our primary schoolrooms, and indeed 
the higher schoolrooms, be well provided with 
shelves and boxes. Let these be filled with all 
sorts of productions of nature and art ; speci- 
mens of all sorts of wood and metals ; all kinds 
of cloth and leather, or any other fabric, — 
indeed, of every thing which can well be 
brought into a school, and put in some proper 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 143 

receptacle. Let each one of these objects be 
a subject for examination by classes, in con- 
venient order, under the direction of the 
teacher. In this way, the plan begun by Nature 
at home would be carried out, and carried out 
much farther than could possibly be at home 
under ordinary circumstances ; as many objects 
would be supplied by the scholars from differ- 
ent families, which could not be had, excepting 
as each was found in a different home. All 
the perceptive faculties would here find delight- 
ful occupation, and be continually gaining in 
strength. Children would hardly be tired of 
such observation, due regard being given to 
their comfort and constitutional power of atten- 
tion. Indeed, if rightly managed, they would 
enter heartily into minute examinations, and 
comparisons of one thing with another ; for 
there might be a healthful and spirited emula- 
tion in the exercise. It may be farther re- 
marked, that the words designating the object 
in hand, and its qualities and uses, must come 
into the occasion. These the children learn 
just as readily as they learn at home the name 
of the lamp, and that it is bright and hot ; or 
the terms belonging to any thing else. Lan- 
guage is not lost, but rather most richly gained. 



144 THE DISCIPLINE OP THE 

by this use of the time. Furthermore, just 
consider the practical utility of this mode of 
education. What a wide and minute acquaint- 
ance is formed with things, as necessaries, com- 
forts, and luxuries, in living, or as appertaining 
to the various affairs of business ! How the 
quality of the material and of the manufacture 
of a commodity will be compared with the qua- 
lity of another of the same kind ; so that, by the 
time the child shall be old enough to leave 
school, he shall have run through the whole 
range of objects ever used in ordinary life, and 
be able to detect the minutest differences be- 
tween one and another of the same sort ! With 
such a training, it would be utterly impossible 
for manufacturer or trader to impose an inferior 
production on the purchaser. He must propor- 
tion his price to the quality, or keep his goods 
on his hands. With the ignorance of commodi- 
ties in which people have been kept until grown 
up, and obliged to purchase for themselves, how 
continually have they been subjected to impo- 
sitions on their credulity, and to consequent 
annoyance of spirit ! It has really taken a life- 
time to obtain that practical knowledge of qua- 
lities and fitnesses which might be acquired 
by boys and girls before they should be half 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 145 

through their teens, were the common-sense and 
time-saving method above explained adopted. 
How also are the poor now imposed upon ! 
They must take a second or third rate article 
at a very little reduction from the price of the 
best, to make a small saving. Yet, in the long- 
run, theirs are the dearest purchases of all. But, 
with such an education, there could scarcely be 
any imposition on anybody. The children of 
the poor, in our common schools, are equally 
learners with those of the rich. If those who 
are pinched for money must seek the cheapest 
thing, they will know exactly its comparative 
value, and will either have fair terms, or go to 
some competitor more favorable to their circum- 
stances. Then the struggle would be among 
the manufacturers to see who should excel, — 
who should go ahead in improvement, — as 
knowing that the purchasers have been trained 
from very infancy to detect imperfections. Then 
the trader could not deceive the buyer, if the 
manufacturer should succeed in deceivins; him. 
Indeed, retailer, jobber, wholesale dealer, and 
manufacturer must all be honest men, selling at 
prices exactly just ; that is, according to quality, 
all other circumstances being equitably con- 
sidered. If every article in a dry-goods store 

10 



146 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

or a grocery, or any other furnishing establish- 
ment, were thus put to the test of minute exami- 
nation and comparison, the reign of that old 
hollow-hearted despot whose power is in his 
own pretence and in the ignorance of his sub- 
jects — the reign of King Sham — would be 
ended. 

LOSS AND GAIN. 

Thus much might easily be done in our 
schools ; yes, and save enough money by the 
" operation/' as trading people have the term, 
to pay the whole school-tax. Just think of it, 
friends ! — how much the majority of people 
actually lose out of pocket by overpaying for 
poor commodities ! Or, if price and quality do 
go honestly together, how much uncomfortable- 
ness is often occasioned to the body, and trouble 
to the spirit, by these cheap imperfections ! 
How often, too, the purse suffers, in the long- 
run, by all the rips, breakages, and good-for- 
nothingness for which the few dollars or few 
cents saved are far from making up ! Who has 
not had occasion to feel the truth of the saying, 
" The cheapest things are the dearest " ? Just 
look round your premises, and take a distinct 
observation of all the various necessaries, com- 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 147 

forts, luxuries, and elegances there gathered. 
Consider the ceaseless rush of wearables, eata- 
bles, drinkables, and burnables into your house- 
hold receptacles. Then reflect that all this 
mixed and continuous avalanche of earthy mat- 
ter is sweeping through your doors from the 
beginning to the end of married life, half a cen- 
tury perhaps and more, costing to moderate 
fortunes, for fifty years, fifty thousand dollars 
at least, and to others twice or four times that 
amount ; and then reflect how often through this 
long period the twain and their dependents have 
been mistaken, have been cheated, or somehow 
have lost in their bargainings, in consequence 
of not having their senses about them; at least 
one sense wide open and sharp, — that is, the 
sight. Yes, friends, take all these absolute re- 
alities into a clear comprehension, and then tell 
me whether the shelves and boxes of specimen 
goods at the schoolroom, and the careful inspec- 
tion and comparison of them by the pupils, in 
the course of all the long years passed there, 
are nothing but a theorist's tuJiim. 

But, alas ! even if you should think this com- 
modity project not a whim, but rather an all- 
important requisite, it would be quite in vain 
as schools are now arranged. Even if parents, 



148 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

committees, and teachers should all be convinced 
of the value of the proposition, it might take no 
short time to get it into action. Who does not 
know that public improvements, however well 
acknowledged, are often postponed for years? 
Inconvenient and unhealthy schoolrooms in ci- 
ties, and miserable old schoolhouses in the 
country, prove this fact. However, the better 
time is coming, as a few schools here and there 
in our country bear witness. In the mean time, 
good parents, what shall prevent you from going 
into this commodity training at once in your 
own families? Indeed your children are at it 
now, all by themselves, — even the youngest 
creeper on the carpet. They only want a little 
assistance. Their senses a.re all alive and awake ; 
their observing faculties are at their appointed 
work. The difficulty is, there are so many new 
things all about in this freshly entered world, 
that they do'not work long enough on one piece 
of matter ; they are not thorough. Now, what 
these little candidates for purchases and house- 
keeping want is your help and companionship at 
inspection. How much can be learned of real 
substantial knowledge, even before the child 
shall arrive at the school-going age ! Without 
any help at all, except his own keen senses or 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 149 

the eager perceptives behind them, he becomes 
marvellously knowing at four or five years of 
age. Now, amid all your gettings of new 
things, what a constant opportunity is there for 
him to get an understanding of them, if you 
will but stop to show him ! What ample time is 
there during the three meals a day, at the table, 
for the inspection of things in use thereupon, 
and for talk about things which have been seen 
otherwhere ! Indeed, friends, you may take your 
children along through your whole house-world, 
and over and over again, searching every thing 
as thoroughly as air, light, and heat search them, 
by the time they shall come to the edge of their 
youthful years. Even a seven-year-old errand- 
doer would have something like a mature judg- 
ment as to the poor, the better, and the best, at 
the store where he carries your cents, dimes, 
and quarters, to bring you back, as you hope, 
the best thing to be had for the money. You 
would find, I can affirm without fear of contra- 
diction, the immortal adage to be true, even of 
a child, that ^^ knowledge is power," — power 
over a store-keeper or any other money-maker. 
Just try the plan at once, my friends, and be 
convinced. You will then have something to 
talk about with your children, not so much to 



150 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

grumble about^ and not so much time for grum- 
bling. Finally, when you shall have thoroughly 
proved the value and the pleasure of this thing, 
—^learning in the home seminary, — then try all 
your influence for a change in the school. Both 
institutions earnestly working together, be as- 
sured that all sorts of producers would have to 
go ahead toward pefection, and trade would be 
compelled to be honest. Adulteration, that vile 
deceiver, that sometimes awful poisoner, would 
be cornered, starved out, and have to give up. 
Old and mighty Sham, as was intimated before, 
would have to abdicate, and his line would per- 
ish. 

Much more is yet to be said about the investi- 
gation of material things. It has happened to 
be convenient to present the subject just now in 
one respect, — that of quality and comparative 
fitness for uses, — a sort of profit-and-loss view 
of the matter. I shall now take up this object- 
study somewhat methodically, and in various 
relations. All, however, will have a bearing, 
more or less, on practical utility. 

. INFANTILE ACTIVITY. 

The exercise of the observing faculties — ob- 
ject-study — begins in early infancy, prompted 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 151 

by the inborn instincts. Some hints appertain- 
ing to this tenderest age may be of benefit : so 
they are here given intermediately as we pass 
along. 

Set it down, friends, as a fact, that your chil- 
dren want things substantial, and palpable to the 
senses, from the time they are put on the floor, 
from the mother's lap. They must have them 
at first, or nothing. Let them, therefore, have 
what they, want ; but it must be judiciously 
and properly. The infant is pleased with that 
which he can grasp, and shake about, and 
put to his mouth. But do not, like some ig- 
norant parents, give him what may be hurtful, 
— a painted toy, for instance ; so that he shall 
be in danger of sucking the paint, and of being 
poisoned : for the taste is one of the first ave- 
nues to infantile knowledge and enjoyment, and 
there is a sucking instinct. Put into his hands 
little hard things of different shapes, and made 
of ivory, or some other clean, firm substance, 
which may be found perhaps at the toy-shop ; 
or things of solid wood, which you can carve 
out yourself. When he shall fairly get upon 
the floor, there to be seated like a monarch on 
his throne, or to move about like a mechanic in 
his shop, provide him with little blocks, and other 



152 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

manageable things, to pile up and toss about. 
When he shall be old enough to try any thing 
like building with them, some one should show 
him how, and help his beginning. Few probably 
need this hint ; yet there are some too busy with 
work or amusements, or too indolent, to stoop a 
few moments to the incipient constructor, if he 
is not in the way of their feet, or makes no 
disturbing cries. Any thing which will not 
harm him, and which he himself cannot injure, 
might be within his domain or his workshop. 
Pray, have the good sense not to let him have, 
even to gain a moment's quiet, what he may 
tear or deface, such as the yet-unread newspaper 
or a valuable book. He must understand that 
he can never have such things, at least unless 
there are those of the kind devoted to his spe- 
cial use alone. You will save a great deal of 
time and trouble by firmness in this matter. In 
process of the months, he becomes a traveller 
on all-fours about the room : he is in search of 
curiosities and adventures. It is now far better 
to keep entirely out of his reach things he must 
not touch, than to be ever anxiously on the 
watch, and perpetually stopping, thwarting, and 
irritating the headlong discoverer. As for the 
rest which cannot be put aside, such as the stove 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 153 

or the fireplace, and the implements belonging 
to them, just let him understand, that it is your 
will, which cannot he changed, that he must never 
touch them. If necessary, just let him get, un- 
der your careful watch, an uncomfortably hot, 
but not a burnt finger a few times ; and he will 
perceive why he must not go too far in that 
direction. 

SYMPATHY WANTED. 

Enough has been said perhaps to indicate 
how a child may be entertained and instructed 
for the first year. As the second comes on, he 
begins to run about, and to go anywhere, and 
get at every thing ; and you are put to your 
activity to keep him within safe bounds. He 
is perpetually finding new things. His brain is 
too weak to be kept very long at one single 
object : so it is a happy provision, that curiosity 
should carry him quickly from one thing to an- 
other. Nevertheless, let him hold on to what 
he has, as long as he will ; the longer, the bet- 
ter : for thus he will form the habit of concen- 
trated attention, preparing him to stick to a 
lesson till he thoroughly learns it, or to any 
other pursuit in the future till he shall have ac- 
complished it. By and by, when he shall dis- 



154 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

cover some new and curious thing, he will run 
with it to you if he can, or bring you to it, to 
show you what a wonderful discovery he has 
made. He is a social being, such as he is to be, 
or ought to be, in all his after-life. It is worthy 
of remark, and of gratitude also to the good 
Creator, how children want the presence, the 
attention, and especially the sympathy, of others.' 
Above all things, in gratifying curiosity, and 
getting knowledge, and doing their little play- 
work, they crave sympathy. How this infantile 
innocence instructs far-off manhood and woman- 
hood, and rebukes solitary and cold self-seeking ! 
Your child wants sympathy : give it to him on 
the spot. He will be satisfied with a very little. 
Do not turn him abruptly off, unless the house 
should be on fire, or somebody is in agonizing 
pain, and must have you at once. Look, as he 
holds up his new-found treasure : look ! perhaps 
you will learn something yourself; for children 
often find out interesting items of knowledge 
which their parents had been utterly ignorant 
of before. Then dismiss the novelty-finder with 
a tender word and a kind look, and he will run 
away as happy as ever Agassiz was after having 
discovered and lectured about some new species 
of fish ; for genial science delights to impart as 
well as to find. 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 155 



INDIVIDUALIZING. 



But your child has begun to talk : he calls 
things by name ; that is, if, in all patience, 
you will tell him what the names are. Now 
or soon, you may help him to cultivate into 
strength and acuteness the most important per- 
ceptive faculty of his mind : it is the indivi- 
dualizing faculty. The phrenologists name it 
"individuality." All qualities of material things 
which fit them for special uses inhere in sepa- 
rate individual objects. Certain qualities are 
bunched together, and thus form a certain spe- 
cies of things. Now, unless the sense distinctly 
detects and gets hold of the thing, the qualities 
and uses cannot be apprehended. So, one of 
the very first observing powers put in action is 
that of individuality. It is not some new qua- 
lity, but some new and distinct object, which 
the child drives at and lays hold of; and then 
he looks for its properties. Some have this fac- 
ulty constitutionally much stronger than others. 
Many a boy and girl, many a man and woman, 
go along the roads in a country place, or the 
streets of a city, with their eyes half shut, or 
gazing about with a vacant stare, or fastened 
straightforward upon nothing. Others observe 



156 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

every thing, and gain knowledge at every step 
and at every turn of the eye. Such being the 
constitutional dilBferences in children, it v^ill be 
v^ell for parents to attend early to this matter. 
Perhaps they themselves are deficient in this 
individualizing ability, and it is time that they 
should make up the deficiency. 

THE OBJECT-GAME. 

As a mutual benefit, and pleasure indeed, let 
parent and child have a sort of game at finding 
objects. It may be called " the thing-game," or, 
if you please, " the object-game." The wall, 
ceiling, window, floor, carpet, table, chairs, and 
so on, will probably first strike attention, and be 
named. Soon, all the prominent objects of the 
room will be exhausted. Then there will be a 
scramble for something more. Objects will be 
discovered which otherwise would not have met 
the eye, or have been thought of The head of 
a nail, a shred of cloth, the minutest thread, or 
any particle of matter ; a spot or mark on the 
furniture or wall, or any thing else ; any thing 
which may bear a name, — will be detected one 
after another : and he is the victor who shall 
find the minutest and most out-of-the-way thing 
to which may be put a name, and the last thing to 



OBSERYING FACULTIES. 157 

be found. At auother time, the same game 
may be played with objects in the yard, or any- 
where around the house, or as far away as the 
sight can reach from door or window. Differ- 
ent apartments in the house may be made the 
scene of the game. If the time be the dark 
evening or a winter's cold day, let the trial be, 
who shall call to recollection the most objects in 
some other room in the house, or in the naore 
distant shed or barn. What an inventory will 
thus be made of the implements and various 
goods of the household ! You might go farther, 
and call to recollection what may have been 
noticed in a neighbor's domicile, or anywhere 
else. Thus, in mere exciting pastime, you will 
develop in your child and in yourselves the 
central and most important faculty of the intel- 
lect. You will all be trained to keep your eyes 
open, to look, to see, and to separate one thing 
from another ; and thus to ©btain knowledge of 
new and distinct things wherever you go. How 
keen at catching objects at a glance will you 
become, if you only try ! You know how the 
sailor will discover a ship at the distant horizon 
when it seems but a speck, but which the undis- 
ciplined passenger could not possibly perceive. 
It is because he has been for years searching 



158 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

the ocean's surface for any object which may 
break the blank uniformity, and especially for 
his eye's love, — a sail. His success at such 
perception is a matter of discipline and use. 
Just so the sight of children might be trained 
to acuteness of observation among the objects 
on the land, if parents would set themselves and 
their children about it. Of course, as was inti- 
mated before, there will be differences in accom- 
plishment according to differences in organic 
constitution. 

qualities: form. 

Next, after individualizing the world of mat- 
ter around, comes the learning of the forms of 
things. These forms can be seen by the eye in* 
the light, — can be felt by the hand in the dark : 
they are the subjects of two senses. Soon will 
the child learn the ideas and' the names, — ■ 
long and short, square and round. Indeed, 
you may cheaply provide blocks exhibiting all 
the various geometrical figures ; and the child 
in due time (for I would force nothing) might 
learn the various geometrical names. At his 
impressible age, it will be as easy for him to 
fasten on his memory a scientific term as any 
other word, if there is only a real visible object 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 159 

Tinder it. How easily, then, will he learn whe- 
ther any object his sense falls on is most like a 
square, , triangle, cube, parallelogram, sphere, 
cone, pyramid, or any thing else ! I need not 
here run through the several geometrical figures 
and names. You may easily get a book, and 
look at them ; and the advantage to yourselves 
and children will amply repay the trouble. 

SIZE AND MEASUREMENT. 

To proceed with qualities : next comes the 
size of things. The child soon perceives this, 
without your telling him that one object is 
larger or smaller than another. All he wants 
from you are words to designate differences in 
dimension. Yes : he does want, or rather need, 
something else. He needs training to accuracy 
in discriminating the size and bulk of different 
things. Let him then have, when he shall be 
old enough, a .two-foot rule such as carpenters 
use, or the household yard-stick, marked off into 
feet and inches ; and set him to measuring ob- 
jects, — whatever or wherever he pleases, bating 
all harm. He can find the length and breadth 
of the floor ; the length, width, and height of 
furniture. Indeed, have him measure the di- 
mensions of any thing he may put his rule 



160 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

against, within or around the house. When he 
shall be old enough, furnish him with a ten-foot 
pole, or a rope, or an iron chain of longer ^tretch ; 
and, with this, set him to finding the length and 
breadth of a field, or the distance between your 
own house and the next neighbor's, or the 
school-house or the church. Thus your boy is 
becoming a surveyor before he knows it. This 
procedure will not be a dry task to him, unless 
you make it so : it will seem to make a man of 
him, and he cannot but like it. I see no impro- 
priety, moreover, in a sister's taking a part in 
such outdoor, healthy, and instructive action. 
Certainly, all in-door exercises in such measure- 
ments will fall within the proprieties of female 
life, and much in the uses of it. Why not make 
a sort of competition and game of this quality of 
size? Let a guess be made as to the length, 
breadth, or height of any thing ; and then see 
who comes nearest .to the fact by the measure. 
Your boys and girls will like it ; and so will you, 
if you have any of your young sportiveness still 
left in your soul. 

But some will inquire. What practical advan- 
tage can this possibly be in the future ? It is 
replied, that the active business of almost every 
one depends more or less on off-hand and imme- 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 161 

diate decisions, based on a knowledge of things. 
Tlie farmer does not often scientifically survey 
the portion of a field he intends to plough up for 
a crop. lie decides on the quantity through his 
previous knowledge of comparative proportions. 
The more accurately he can judge of lengths 
and breadths, the nearer will be his work to his 
Welshes. Oftentimes, this kind of judgment will 
come into play in respect to spaces and dis- 
tances. Again, in buying and selling loads and 
piles of commodities, men often guess at the 
dimensions, or judge by the eye, without defi- 
nite numerical measurement. He, therefore, 
who shall have the truest perception of size 
will have the advanta<2:e. In the affairs of a 
household, moreover, such as the cutting and 
repairing of garments and the proportioning of 
quantities in cookery, the fliculty of size comes 
into most useful requisition. Why, therefore, 
shall it not be assiduously developed from early 
life onward, to the saving of work, time, money, 
and comfort, quite worth the while, take the life 
through ? 

WEIGHT. 

Now comes the quality of weight. In a most 
incidental, unlesson-like, and playful way, you 

11 



162 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

can teach your child, boy or girl, the difference 
between one thing and another as to weight. 
Let him lift first one object, and then another ; 
so that he may perceive the difference in the 
pressure upon his hands. You can tell him, 
that this pressure is weight, and that one thing 
weighs more than another. He will learn, too, 
that the difference, in different kinds of things, 
does not depend on size. In due time, you can 
show him what it does depend on. Provide 
some scales. These will not cost more than a 
few cigars, or any other luxury which you ex- 
haust in the using, or some little piece of finery 
quickly worn out ; but the scales will last for 
years, and outweigh their own price a thousand 
times over in this educational usefulness. With 
these let him weigh all the various commodities 
proper to be put into them. Do not make a task 
of the matter, but rather a pastime, which you 
may join in yourselves. In the first place, have 
each one present take the commodity in hand, 
and lift it up and down, and guess how much it 
weighs, or rather try to form an accurate judg- 
ment about it. Then put it into the scale, and 
see who comes nearest to the fact. Thus the 
little company, parents and children, have not 
only entertainment, but. gain knowledge ; and a 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 163 

special faculty is disciplined for future and valu- 
able use in the affairs of life. It would be easy 
to show the special application of this training 
to practical purposes, as in the case of the other 
faculties and qualities. Thinking readers can 
readily illustrate for themselves. 

COLOR. 

There is a special faculty likewise to observe 
color. Such different properties of objects as 
form and weight must certainly require the use 
of a specific power : so also must color ; for this 
differs from every other property in nature. 
This faculty of color may be disciplined to mar- 
vellous acuteness and enjoyment, if pains are 
only taken with it. Of all the appearances of 
matter, the child earliest observes and delights 
in color. It is the color of the fire and the lamp 
which so early attracts the infant eye : so of 
other objects one after another. Bright and 
dazzling colors are his joy. As his age shall 
warrant, teach him the names of the various 
distinct colors. By the help of a book, if you 
need one, you may be somewhat methodical in 
your instructions. You can give him the names 
of the three primary colors, then of the second- 
ary colors ; and, at length, of all the various 



164 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

colors made up from these ; together witli the 
many hues, tints, and tinges which have names. 
Provide patterns of cloth as copies ; and, from 
these, let the child get the idea and name of the 
distinctive colors. This will be a pleasant mat- 
ter, if you choose to make it so. You may get 
up a color-game, as you do with the other qua- 
lities. Take any object of an indeterminate 
color, and see who will quickest find the stand- 
ard color which it most nearly resembles. See 
who shall name the colors, hues, or tinges, to 
the greatest number of objects according to some 
text-book. Here are the things both of art and 
of nature, innumerable, all around, with colors of 
all sorts : what a source of entertainment and 
discipline for the special faculty, if parents will 
but think of it, and go at the work, or rather 
the sport ! The training of this faculty is of 
singular importance to those who have much to 
do with dry goods, and especially to ladies who 
are the principal purchasers. I once knew a 
former's wife, the mother of an infant boy, and 
of a little girl perhaps three years old, at the 
time I have in mind. She had no help but that 
of her own hands, and of this little bud of a 
maid. Among other things, she must make, 
mend, and alter garments. She could not well 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 165 

run up stairs to a closet or drawer for a piece 
of cloth, whenever she might want it : so she 
had all the various fabrics of wool, cotton, or 
silk, done up respectively in separate parcels 
by themselves. Not only so, but, if I recollect 
aright, there was a subdivision of fabrics, ac- 
cording to color. So, when in her work the 
mother needed a particular cloth of a particular 
color, she sent the little active and willing girl 
away up stairs for it. If she made a mistake in 
the selection, she had to go back and forth till 
she got the right little roll. The result was, 
that the child became exceedingly discriminat- 
ing in whatever belonged to cloths and their 
colors. She, at length, manifested remarkable 
taste as to the fitnesses and proprieties of dress. 
Her natural organization might have been fa- 
vorable to such ability. Nevertheless, such an 
early use of the special faculty must have 
enhanced this prominent characteristic. 

NATURE. 

In this training to the observance and enjoy- 
ment of color, you will, of course, not omit the 
infinite variety in the aspects of nature. With 
sunshine and cloud, mountains, lowlands, woods, 
waters, and other features of nature, what a 



166 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

range for the eye ! How it may be taught to 
fasten and feast on distinctive colors, and their 
many lights and shades ! 

FLOWERS. 

The flowers cannot possibly be omitted; for 
these are among the first things which attract 
a child's admiring gaze. These will afford 
almost numberless lessons in discriminating 
colors. They may not be so practically useful 
as the lessons upon cloths; but the living and 
wonderful beauty will make them far more de- 
lightful. What a taste might be nurtured, what 
pleasure secured and continually enhanced, by 
a little pains ! How easily might the delighted 
mind be carried, in due time, from the charm of 
the flowers into the rich botanical science which 
lies in their various characteristics, and in the 
leafy structure which they adorn ! 

Another special subject of notice is the va- 
rious colors and hues of the different vegetable 
productions. What a dijBference between one 
kind of grain or grass and another ! What 
changes of hue in the same kind, as the growth 
proceeds ! Habituate your child to watch, day 
after day, as the invisible Painter varies the 
tints and tinges and shades. Direct his eye to 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 167 

all the appearances presented by the vegetable 
realm, as there may be cloud or sunshine, breeze 
or calm. Thus training him to observe Nature 
in all her many shows, you may fit him for land- 
scape painting; at any rate, you will prepare 
him better to enjoy the painter's work. But, 
above all, you will educate him to delight in the 
matchless wonders of the all-perfect Hand. 

• 

GRAINS. 

Furthermore : do not let the little learner go 
without knowing one grain from another, as to 
both stalk and kernel. It would be well to put 
each kind of grain into a little box or transpa- 
rent via], for convenient future observations. 
It is perfectly wonderful how much music or 
mathematics, and many other things, are learned, 
or rather are pretended to be learned, while the 
commonest and most useful things are left out 
of the catalogue of requirements. I once tra- 
velled in a stage-coach with a little girl, eleven 
years old, who was going from her dear home to 
a high-priced fashionable boarding-school, fifty 
miles away, to be educated. The schools close 
by her father's door — and they were quite good 
schools too — would not answer. I made some 
inquiries of the child as to the particulars of 



168 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

her course of instruction. Her studies seemed 
to me very remarkable ; but she knew so Httle 
of them, that she could make no remark about 
them herself. We passed a large wheat-field, 
goldenly rich and beautiful ; for it was just be- 
fore the harvest. I inquired if she knew what 
grain that was ; and she had no more idea of it 
than she would have had of the vegetation of the 
tropics, if she had been dropped suddenly down 
into the midst of it. She was equally ignorant 
of a great many other striking objects and use- 
ful things along the road. Just so, thousands 
of our young ladies go to school, spend money, 
tug at lessons, and learn words, and yet hardly 
know what their bread is made of At least, 
they know not much about industrious Nature's 
primal and indispensable factory out in the 
fields. 

TREES. 

A word more about another kind of produc- 
tion. Your child learns, doubtless, very early, 
which is the apple or pear or peach or plum 
tree, — and how each looks, if such be near 
by ; and can also tell the elms from the maples 
standing, it may be, at the door or along the 
street. But it is possible, unless you take some 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 169 

little pains, — and certainly if yon put him 
into the school-prison early, and there keep 
him, — that he will not advance much further 
in his knowledge of trees. There is many a 
boy who grows up without being able to name 
the trees in a neighboring wood ; and of quali- 
ties he is very much more ignorant still. As to 
girls, the majority know next to nothing about 
these magnificent monarchs of the vegetable 
kingdom. They lift themselves all alive out of 
the ground, and stretch out their leafy scep- 
tres, and wear their foliaged crowns, and there 
tower, — waiting to be looked at, admired, and 
studied ; and yet, with all their beauty and state- 
liness, how unrecognized they remain ! Now, 
friends, parental readers, let it not be so with 
your children, whether sons or daughters, if you 
would have them truly educated. Turn their 
attention to the difference, in form and general 
appearance, between one species of tree and an- 
other. They will most readily learn the names. 
Show them clearly the different parts of the 
tree, and teach them the words designating 
each part. According as" the age permits, you 
can have much conversation with them on the 
philosophy of its growth and nature. I was 
once walking on a farm with the owner's little 



170 THE DISCIPLIKE OF THE 

boy, five years of age ; and lie pointed out to 
my unnoticing sight, with a keen eye and the 
zest of a naturalist, a peculiar characteristic of 
a great oak near which we passed. That father, 
I found, made it a pastime to show his child 
the things of nature, and to make explanations 
about them ; and I am very sure it was a pas- 
time to my little companion and instructor. 

But to proceed: take the little learner into 
the woods, and see what new trees you can find 
there, and help him to a knowledge of these. 
If you are ignorant yourself, become his fellow- 
learner. 

LEAVES. 

One thing, in particular, might be done to 
improve the observing powers in minuteness, 
and to prepare entertainment for the future. 
The leaf of one species of tree differs from that 
of another. Now, let the exact difi'erence be 
noticed, and at length fixed in the memory. 
Let a number of leaves be culled from each 
tree, and thoroughly dried by pressure in a 
book ; then when all the foliage has fallen under 
the cold, and the inclement winter has come, 
what fun, and instruction too, can you and your 
children have with the leaves ! You can make 



OBSERYING FACULTIES. 171 

it a pleasant game to see who shall best tell the 
name of the tree to which each kind of leaf 
belonged. It may take several games to asso- 
ciate some twenty or thirty of these little 
things, so variously shaped and notched, each 
with the name of its parent of the pasture or 
forest. Then, when the next vegetative season 
shall arrive, how sharp the young eyes will be 
after the different kinds of trees, each with 
its differently shaped foliage ! The leaves of 
shrubs, plants, grains, and grasses might also 
be prepared in the same way for the winter's 
amusement and instruction. It would be a good 
plan, moreover, to provide little pieces of all 
sorts of wood ; letting a portion of the bark 
remain as one of the distinctive marks. Thus 
the child and yourselves, companions as docile 
as he, will learn the difference between the 
color, fibre, and strength of one species of wood 
and those qualities in another species. He will 
come to know the kind of wood from its internal 
look, as well as from its external, with which he 
began. By this inspection, he will be gradually 
acquainting himself with all the various sorts of 
timber which in after-life he may have to do 
with, either as a manufacturer or a purchaser. 
As things have been, this valuable knowledge 



172 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

has been left to a life-long experience of mis- 
takes and losses, mingled in with whatever 
successes may have come. 

MINERALS. 

Still further : you may lead your young looker 
into the mineral kingdom, and find many trea- 
sures there, before saying any thing about mine- 
ralogy. You may, however, give the term, if 
you please ; and he will remember and like it at 
his age, as well as any other word. You may 
incidentally teach him mineralogical terms : only 
be sure to have them stand for visible and real 
objects. What makes children dislike these 
matters is the taking the life out of them, if 
they have any, by a hard lesson-task, without 
any intelKgible explanation. In the first place, 
you can easily have at hand, for illustration, 
specimens of the several metals in common use ; 
such as iron, lead, copper, silver, gold, and other 
metals ; and also their various combinations. Let 
the differences, uses, and comparative values of 
these substances be shown, together with their 
original locations and conditions in the earth. 
How very much you might communicate, from 
time to time, about these minerals ; storing trea- 
sures in the mind richer and more lasting than 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 173 

the precious metals themselves I Again : have 
your child hunt for rocks which are peculiar for 
size, shape, color, streaks, spots, or mossy pic- 
tures. Show him the different layers of earth, 
disclosed by a cut through a hill where a road 
passes, or in- a river's bank. He has eyes, as 
Avell as a farmer, to notice how the productive 
soils differ from each other, and also from the 
barren strata beneath. Thus, from this early 
date onward, he will obtain that knowledge of 
land which is all-important to the agriculturist, 
and indeed is useful to any one who cultivates 
but a little patch of a garden. You may have a 
game together to see who shall find the greatest 
number of curious stones. Or, if you are at the 
water-side, try who shall be most successful in 
spying out beautiful pebbles. This slight be- 
ginning in mineralogical science may possibly 
lead to a zealous and thorough . continuance. 
Many years ago, some crystals embedded in a 
lump of iron ore were pointed out to a youth. 
He was so surprised at their regularity and 
beauty, and with the fact that they had been 
hidden for ages in that entirely different and 
shapeless mass of matter, that his eyes were 
afterward put on the watch for similar things. 
This trivial circumstance first gave the start to 



174 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

one of the most distinguished mineralogists of 
our country, and the author of valuable treatises 
on the science. Now, if your boy shall not 
become eminent, he may, by your aid, become 
a minute observer of mineral substances. Ever 
afterward, his eye will be sharper to detect 
them, and his travelling be made interesting by 
bowlders in the pastures, stones by the wayside, 
or even gravel rattling beneath his carriage- 
wheels in the road. 

It will be well to help your little fellow- 
rambler to begin a mineralogical cabinet, al- 
though this may seem too grand a phrase for 
the occasion. The rudest boards, and the 
lad's collection of curious pebbles or coarser 
stones to put upon them, will suffice to com- 
mence with, if there shall be nothing better. 
The very fact, that a particular depository has 
been prepared for such things, will induce effort 
to fill it up. Great pleasure, perhaps great 
usefulness, may grow in the future from this 
humble beginning. Should it be so, your son 
will thank you a thousand times for this first 
setting-out in the science which he got from a 
loving parent. 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 175 



ANIMALS. 



If the very ground beneath the feet can be 
made to yield so much to the early mind, how 
much more the living creatures which move 
above it ! How delighted even infonts are 
with the pictures of animals ! What a marvel, 
then, are the substantial animate creatures them- 
selves ! These move about, and have a purpose 
in moving, as has the child himself. They do 
something, and there is a sort of wonder what 
they will do next. The household dog and cat 
are favorites, and the animals about the yard 
and barn are objects of interest, — all this before 
much instruction can be given. Nature is get- 
ting the pupil ready. In due season, and soon 
will this come to most, how much may be taught 
concerning the distinctive natures and habits of 
these tenants of the homestead ! But the wider 
animal kingdom — curiosity cannot reach the end 
of this ; but it can delightedly travel on and on, 
if instruction will only lead it forward a little. 
The birds, which make the spring so gladsome 
and the summer fields and groves so all alive, 
have specific forms, colors, notes, ^ habits, histo- 
ries. Now, the boys and girls might become 



176 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

knowing and acute in these various matters, 
just as well as to be so sharp-eyed after birds' 
nests, as most of them are. Indeed, young peo- 
ple in the country, if parents and teachers would 
only look to it, might make no small progress in 
ornithology before the customary school-years 
should be over. As for the larger four-footed 
creatures, there is not much chance at them, 
except through the happening of a menagerie 
or a wilderness. Some of the smaller quadru- 
peds, however, are within easy reach. The 
nimble, chirruping squirrel has several habits of 
his own. The opening curiosity would be just 
as ready to learn about these as to watch his 
freakish motions. Even rat and mouse might 
be made something of scientifically. Perhaps, 
if the truth were known of the skulks, they 
would seem very much less offensive. Even 
snakes and worms might also have a better 
repute with the associations. Let us save our 
children from a life-long disgust, if we can. 

INSECT CURIOSITIES. 

There is another division of the animal king- 
dom which spreads all around the home in every 
direction, — that of insects. How countless 
their species and varieties ! There is no reason 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 177 

why the young should not be introduced into 
considerable acquaintance with the science of 
entomology, and this without hard and dry 
study. Even this long and strange scientific 
term would be no burden to the fresh memory, 
because it would mean something to it. What 
a trifle would a microscope cost for family use ! 
so that, when any singular little creature should 
be found, there might be a minute and wonder- 
ing inspection. 

There is a country town, one of the roughest 
in New England, which was favored with a cler- 
gyman who well understood the true methods 
of education. Among other investigations, he 
devoted some of his leisure to entomology. 
Somehow, he inspired the people of the whole 
town, more or less, with his spirit, and espe- 
cially the young. All eyes were opened and 
sharpened to discover some new bug or worm 
or butterfly ; and happy was the little boy or 
girl who could run with some prize of the kind 
to the minister, receive his thanks, and get a 
peep through his microscope at the wonders. 
Now, if one man could exercise such an influ- 
ence over a whole town six miles square, what 
might not be expected of young learners, were 
school-teachers in their separate districts, and 

12 



178 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

parents at the homestead, all to get their percep- 
tions awakened to these variously constituted 
tribes, amid whose creepings, flyings, buzzings, 
and hummings they have their own being and 
habitation I 

FISHES AND SHELLS. 

Again: there are the inhabitants of the wa- 
ters. It is well known how interesting the dis- 
tinguished ichthyologist, Agassiz, can make a 
lecture or an incidental talk about fishes. Both 
older and younger hang delighted on his de- 
scriptions of the finny creatures, hardly thought 
of before, excepting as now and then seen glan- 
cing within their own glassy element, or as pre- 
sented by quite another sort of professor, — the 
cook. It is anticipated, that the time will come 
when parents will be so well informed as to 
show their children, in table conversation, that 
trout, haddock, and shad may afford mental as 
well as bodily nutriment. All that is needed for 
this purpose is a little reading, observation, and 
a desire to be instructive. 

Some families have on hand a great variety 
of shells. It would be a pretty exercise for the 
children, on a winter's day, to sort out these 
flowers of the sea according to species, size, or 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 179 . 

some other rule. Thus several of the observing 
faculties would be cultivated, together with 
pleasant occupation. 

PHENOMENA OF NATURE. 

We will glance again at the inanimate world. 
There are various phenomena and processes in 
it which may be made interesting and instructive 
subjects for sight and speech. Nature is pass- 
ing through changes and performing operations 
continually all around. The child observes many 
of them. When they first strike his sense, his 
curiosity is likely to be aroused; and he may 
ask, " Why is this or that ? what makes it do 
so ? " The loftier reflective faculties are now 
beginning to operate : they want to know the 
how, the why, and the wherefore of every thing, 
especially of the changes and the actions of 
things. The reflective faculty — the causality 
more than any other — prompts to questions. 
In answer to this, the considerate parent will 
reply and instruct ; but many a thoughtless or 
busy one will turn the child off, and thus stop 
him from studying lessons and receiving know- 
ledge from the greatest and truest book in the 
universe, — the universe itself Before long, in 
ordinary experience, the child becomes so en- 



180 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

tirelj accustomed to these natural phenomena, 
that he loses all curiosity about them, and asks 
no more questions. Thus millions live and die 
in the civilized world, and even in this book- 
blessed and school-favored land, utterly ignorant 
of wonderful processes going on around them 
all the time ; whereas, had the earliest curiosity 
been kept up and nurtured, creation would have 
been an ever-opening and yet untiring volume. 
I once asked quite a large boy what clouds were 
made of. He replied, " Smoke." He had seen 
with his own eyes thick smoke go up into the 
air from all the chimneys of the neighborhood ; 
and what could it possibly do there but be 
turned into clouds? Nobody had ever pointed 
out to him the grand round of the vapors from 
the ocean and all the waters of the land, up 
through the sky, and down to the earth, the 
streams, and the seas again ; doing all the world 
good on the way. Yet that boy was at school, 
and might have been great at words, remarkable 
before his school-committee, and wonderful to 
his parents. 

I asked that young girl in the stage-coach, 
before mentioned, what clouds were ; and she 
replied, " Oh ! they are great bags up in the 
sky ; and now and then holes get torn, and down 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 181 

comes the rain." This was all she seemed to 
know about this ever-vaiying and manifestly 
beneficent part of nature. But was she not at 
a grand boarding-school, learning great words in 
big books, and at high expense ? Was she not 
getting a fashionable education ? What more 
could the world ask of her ? 

But it is not boys and girls alone who are 
ignorant of Nature. A large proportion of the 
grown-up do not understand her most common 
operations and appearances. There are mists, 
clouds, rain, hail, snow, ice, dew, fire, light, air : 
now, how few in all the civilized world have a 
philosophical knowledge of these phenomena ! 
Why is it so ? One answer may be, that they 
were not explained to the young. Their eyes, at 
length, became accustomed to them, the newness 
passed away, and curiosity passed away with it : 
so a whole lifetime is spent in ignorance of 
changes, combinations, and beneficent results, in 
the wise plans and works of the adorable Crea- 
tor. Could some such natural phenomenon take 
place but once in a hundred years, and then 
be advertised as a spectacle, there would be a 
rush of eager multitudes to behold it, and a most 
earnest listening to the scientific explanations. 
Ah ! what minute processes, what mighty move 



182 THE OBSERVING FACULTIES. 

ments, what numberless benefits, every moment ! 
and bow millions of the most privileged of our 
race now live in the midst, and see not, and ask 
not how or why ! Good parents, you are en- 
treated not to suffer your own beloved children 
to grow up with such deadened curiosity and 
contented ignorance. If you have not the requi- 
site knowledge already, become fellow-learners 
with them. A book or two for the purpose can 
be bought for what you would spend for some 
transient amusement or perishable luxury.* 

The preceding suggestions relate mainly to 
some of those qualities of objects which toge- 
ther make up their obviously specific character. 
They have been extended to far greater length, 
and into much more detail, than was at first 
anticipated. In consequence of this, there 
seems to be need of a pause ; and here is a con- 
venient place to make it. 



* The treatises here named would be convenient: Tate's "First 
Lessons in Philosophy, or Science of Famihar Things;" Wells's 
" Science of Common Things;" Brewer's " Guide to the Scientific 
Knowledge of Things Familiar; '' and Peterson' s " Familiar Science, 
or the Scientific Explanation of Common Things." 



FURTHER SUGGESTIONS 

ON 

THE DISCIPLINE OF THE OBSERVING 
FACULTIES. 



NOTE. 



The following suggestions pertain to a different class of quali- 
ties, — those which are not inherent in substance itself, but which 
are cii'cumstantial and concomitant. These also are exceedingly 
important subjects of the observing faculties, and afford occasion 
for careful direction and discipline on the part of parents and other 
teachers. Those who have an earnest and conscientious interest in 
early and right mental culture will proceed without requiring any 
special invitation. 



FURTHER SUGGESTIONS. 



PLACE. 



PLACE, OR GEOGRAPHY AT HOME. 

A CHILD may begin geography long before 
he goes to school, or rather he may lay the 
sure and proper foundations for this science. 
When he shall have been taught the points of 
the compass, — East, West, North, and South ; 
then which side of the room the fire is, which the 
table, and in which direction are the barn and 
the garden ; and when he shall see just how the 
land lies and looks, close around his home, — he 
has had an introduction to geography ; or has, 
in a small degree, been prepared for an intro- 
duction. A beginning has been made according 
to the real nature of things. He understands 
what he asks about, and what he is told. All 
the words have a meaning to his little mind. 
Now, what you may do, and what he will be 
glad of, is, that you carry him on a little farther 



186 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

and still farther than he would go, clearly and 
certainly, without your personal guidance. You 
must talk him along, and walk him along, until 
you have together surveyed the neighborhood 
all around, and he has obtained a positive know- 
ledge of it ,• a knowledge which he feels to be 
his own, just as he feels that a knowledge of 
your door-yard or sitting-room is his own. ♦For 
instance, you can ask him in what direction the 
street runs ; and, if he has not already found 
out, tell him, and he will soon know beyond 
forgetting. Have him learn who lives in the 
next house to his own home, on the right hand 
and on the left ; who, in the second, third, and 
fourth ; and so on. Of course, this could hardly 
be done in the brick-blocked, heterogeneously 
neighbored but unneighborly city. Children at 
a very early age somehow learn what are a road, 
a field, a pasture, a wood, a hill, and a brook. 
Indeed, they quickly become familiar with most 
of the prominent features of nature, and the 
words by which they are designated. They 
learn much by the incidental conversation of 
persons around. But you might, by a little 
pains, make your child a more accurate as well 
as far-reaching observer than he would other- 
wise be. Train him to notice every distinct 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 187 

object within the scope of his eye ; all the in- 
equalities of the surface ; all the varying tints of 
the vegetation, between the first tender green 
of the spring and the russet of the autumn. 
Every rock, every little hillock and bush, or 
whatever else may make a distinctly observable 
thing, should be a lesson to his eye. Were 
these diminutive traits in the landscape only 
magnified, they would be such geographical 
features as might be noticed in the big school- 
book ; yet the fact, that they are but insignifi- 
cant lines and dots as it were, does not make 
them ungeographical. If geography, according 
to precise definition, is a description of the 
earth, — then, when these diminutive things 
shall be described by your child, he makes real 
geography out of them ; and it will be unspeak- 
ably more profitable than the dry, hard descrip- 
tions of text-books, as they have generally been 
forced upon poor little learners, or rather word- 
getters. If a child be accustomed to such 
minute observation, he will not, of course, over- 
look the more prominent marks in a prospect. 
But, in further commendation, even some of 
these minutiae of the land's surface are import- 
ant indications to the eye of science ; and would 
you not be glad to have your son look at nature 



188 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

with such an eye ? "Wherever he shall ramble 
or travel, would you not have him exercise 
a keen, detective sight, instead of a vacant 
gaze ? 

HOW NOT TO GET LOST. 

The exact understanding of the points of the 
compass is practically of no small importance. 
Many persons most easily lose the direction, 
when they find themselves in a new place. In- 
deed there are those who are absolutely so 
turned about, that sunrise and sunset seem to 
have exchanged horizons ; and it takes some 
considerable looking-round and reflection to get 
out of the bewildering dilemma. Did all roads 
run at right angles toward East and West, North 
and South, and were all houses built square upon 
them, there would be no difficulty. But, trans- 
versed and crooked in all directions as roads 
and streets have to be, the points of Oompass 
are sometimes hardly found in a whole lifetime. 
Indeed there are those who, after a long residence 
in Boston, scarcely know the direction in which 
runs that most familiar of all its thoroughfares, 
Washington Street ; or which way exactly the 
grand and far-seen State House faces. It seems, 
then, that there might be a real advantage in 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 189 

early and continuallj training the observation 
as to the points of the compass. At home, it 
can be made a matter altogether incidental, and 
cost no time which may be better employed. 
Let the cardinal points be well fixed, and it will 
be easy then to fix in the child's mind the direc- 
tion of prominent objects between, and also the 
course of the streets, roads, and streams. 

In the exercise of individualizing objects be- 
fore mentioned, as the child's understanding 
shall advance, it will be well to locate the va- 
rious objects, in all directions, in respect to the 
points of the compass. There might be a little 
emulous pastime about it, as was recommended 
before in the culture of the perceptions. Why 
should not the parents be at the pains of pur- 
chasing a compass for this very purpose? It 
would cost no more than many other things 
usually provided, but which might equally as 
well be done without. With this instrument, 
every point of direction might be exactly estab- 
lished. Thus it would be not only easy, but plea- 
sant and profitable, for children to be trained, as 
they grow along up, to know the precise point, 
from home as a centre, of every farm and house 
in the town ; or, if in the city, of every promi- 
nent object there. So accustomed would the 



190 THE DISCIPLINE OP THE 

young learners become to such definite observa- 
tions, that, as they should travel out to other 
towns now and then, they would quite readily 
fall into these exercises ; and the turnings of a 
road or the windings of a stream, the house on 
a hill, the village-church spire in the distance, 
might be made an additional trial for this sort 
of judgment. So eventually, wherever they 
should travel through the country, their heads 
w^ould not get confused, as now so often hap- 
pens. At least, sunrise and sunset would keep 
their places, to their eye, just as Nature really 
puts them. 

JUDGING OF DISTANCES. 

In this connection, it may be well to say 
something more about the measure of spaces 
and distances. There is a great deficiency in 
people's minds generally as to accuracy in dis- 
tance. One has only to travel in the country, 
and inquire of various people how far it is from 
one certain place to another certain place, espe- 
cially if it be as to the way from one town to 
another, to be convinced how vague are the 
notions of many persons in respect to space. 
Why need this be so, if parents, at odd times, 
without interfering with any business, should 



OBSERYING FACULTIES. 191 

just instruct and amuse themselves and their 
children in this matter ? If a father and son are 
proceeding to a distant field to work, or to any- 
field, why not for once take a tenfoot pole or a 
measuring chain, and find out the exact dis- 
tance ? But suppose a boy is going of an 
errand to a neighbor's, who lives, according to 
vague supposition, a quarter or half a mile ofi": 
let him take his pole or chain, and get the exact 
measurement, and settle it for good and all. Or, 
on some leisure time, let the boys, if there are 
more than one, and the father with them, if he 
pleases, make a little pastime of the thing. This 
measuring entertainment may from time to time 
be extended to any house, or any object, or 
through any distance whatever, according to 
convenience. Thus a judgment about distances 
will be formed, which will come frequently into 
use in subsequent life. 

EDUCATION ON A HILL-TOP. 

Suppose, now, a pleasant day, and a little leisure 
at command, to afford your children, and indeed 
yourselves equally, some little entertainment, — 
perchance instruction. You have already be- 
come acquainted, it may be, with whatever is 
within view of home. You have observed every 



192 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

house, field, pasture, wood, rock, shrub, gleam 
of water. However, it is not necessary to wait 
to get all these nearest things by eye and heart. 
Now, take your little company to the highest 
hill-top you can conveniently reach. From this 
elevation can be discerned various prominent 
objects in towns around. Give the young ob- 
servers the names of these localities, and just 
the direction in which they lie. There are 
certain eminences, each perhaps with a name: 
tell them the name. There, beneath, are the 
valleys also. Perhaps it may be known, that a 
considerable river has its course through some 
of them, or at least some brook large enough to 
turn the useful mill. Describe these streams, 
well known to your larger experience, but which 
the children cannot discern in their sunken and 
shaded channels. But they can see with the 
naked eye, as well as you, the many varied fea- 
tures of the landscape between the centre where 
they stand, and the whole horizon round. Now, 
make a game of it : see who can count the great- 
est number of distinct fields or pastures, or 
separate pieces of woodland, and the greatest 
number of hills. Indeed, as to this feature, you 
may let the eye descend to the minutest promi- 
nences on the surface, and you will find that the 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 193 

sight will become amazingly sharp, and pick up 
the least little haycock of a hill at a distance 
which would not have been thought possible 
before. Then let the vision hunt after valleys, 
and any little dips and crinkles in the land's 
surface, in the same manner. There are cliffs 
and rocks and single trees standing in open 
land, and houses and out-houses, to be playfully 
sought likewise. Withal, take note in which 
direction exactly any road may run, or valley 
wind, or stream meander ; at what point of the 
compass any house or hill may be situated. If 
there shall be a mountain in the distance, there 
will be something not only to fasten the eye, 
but to feed it with beauty or lift it to grandeur. 
Depend upon it, my friends, that you will give 
your children and yourselves, not only a most 
entertaining but instructive excursion. The 
visit to the spot may be repeated several times, 
before all the objects of the expanse shall fall 
beneath inspection, or the lesson or the pleasure 
be exhausted. By and by, you will climb, with 
your little company of observers, some loftier 
hill or the mountain - top ; and, from such a 
height, advance youf knowledge, possibly, to 
distant States. 

13 



194 THE DISCIPLINE OP THE 



THE USE. 



Now, let US consider the practical advantage 
of this actual observation of the earth's surface, 
and the various objects, natural or artificial, 
thereon presented. In the first place, it is evi- 
dent to all, that the examination of any material 
thing by the naked faculties is better, for all 
possible purposes, than the reading or studying ^ 
of a description of it. It is safer, certainly, to 
see a farm with one's own eyes before purchas- 
ing it, than to trust to any written description. 
The general who has actually traversed the 
ground on which he is to make a campaign is 
far better prepared for its emergencies, than if 
he knew the field of operations only as presented 
by the map. The same may be said of every 
practical concern. The mind must be prepared 
to comprehend clearly what is distant, and can- 
not be come at through the naked senses by 
a thorough inspection of similar things within 
their reach. 

These intellectual facts have scarcely been 
thought of by parents and teachers generally 
in this time-consuming, and we may say heart- 
burdening, matter of education. Now, what do 
children, for the most part, see when they cast 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 195 

their eyes upon a map? Nothing but a plain 
surface of paper, with black lines crooking here 
and there, called roads and rivers ; and little 
dots having the names of towns and cities, with 
blotches standing for mountains : and this is just 
about all. The brute animals would take into 
notice about as much. But with this actual 
training of the observing powers, as has been 
recommended, there would appear right on the 
map, as it were, in definite forms and colors 
seen by the vivid imagination, real hills, valleys, 
streams, roads, every thing just as the map was 
intended to represent them. That plain paper 
surface would seem moulded into all the various 
features and appearances of nature by that 
mind's eye which had been studying the real 
earth in these pleasant family excursions. Thus 
geographical language would be all filled, and 
made rich, with real science, — the earth's facts. 
Pray, try the experiment, and see. 



196 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 



N U M B E E. 



WHERE AND HOW ARITHMETIC SHOULD BEGIN. 

An early intellectual exercise, as has been 
before mentioned, is that of individualizing ob- 
jects ; the considering of any separable portion of 
matter by itself. This idea of distinct things, 
of individualities, is one of the primitive founda- 
tions of all knowledge ; and therefore the idea is 
among the earliest introduced into the mind. 
This exercise of individuality affords the first 
occasion for the action of another faculty, — 
that of number. This, of course, must wait till 
words can be acquired, and be applied to things. 
Quite an advance is usually made in a know- 
ledge of things and their names, before the idea 
of number is distinctly apprehended, and its 
appropriate terms intelligibly used. Counting, 
however, is an exercise which children very 
early perform. Friends put them to it in some 
playful mood, or to divert them from a trifling 
grief. They are asked, perhaps, how many 
thumbs they have, or how many fingers. In 
this way, or in some other as incidental, that 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 19T 

science begins which reaches up into the sub- 
limest mathematics. It does not take long to 
get through thumbs and fingers, and to the first 
and all-important waymark, — ten, in the nume- 
rical progress. So far, each term has a thing 
to which it is applied, — a thing to be seen and 
felt ; but, beyond this, the majority of children, 
according to observation, are taught to use the 
terms abstractly, — to utter them without any 
reference to individual and observable objects. 
There are, no doubt, parents who, in teaching 
the child, are wise enough to apply, in a much 
greater extent, the numerals to substantial 
things. Sometimes children themselves, with- 
out any hint from others, will make the applica- 
tion. Nevertheless, the majority, I think, in 
their first acquisition of numerical terms, are 
taught the words without things, in the same 
manner as much of other education is conducted. 
Now, this need not be so : it ought not to be, 
inasmuch as individual things are all around, 
from one up to hundreds, thousands, and mil- 
lions; and, for every numerical term, there may 
be a positive object on which to place the eye. 
Thus the little learner would clearly apprehend, 
that counting is not merely putting one new 
word after another, but is adding thing to things, 



198 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

object to objects, one after another : it is making 
an increase of quantities, under the notice and 
evidence of his own immediate senses. In 
counting, for instance, articles of furniture in 
the room, steps in the stairway, doors and win- 
dows in the house, the newly started arithmeti- 
cal faculty has something real and firm to run 
along on, as the earlier used perceptive powers 
have. 

In the object-game, recommended in a pre- 
vious section, there is an excellent opportunity 
at number : for the game may be not only to see 
who shall quickest find objects one after another, 
or who shall come to the very last thing possible 
to be found, but also who shall come to the lar- 
gest number including these objects ; who shall 
count the highest in the game. Besides the 
things in the house, those abroad are sufiicient 
for infinite counting, or until the mind, even of 
the adult, might get utterly tired and confused 
in its simple and straight-onward task. 

THE COUNTING-GAME. 

It is a good plan to train children to observe 
the proportions between the number and the 
bulk of things. For instance : it will take about 
so many apples, or any other kind of fruit, — 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 199 

considering size, — • to fill a certain measure. 
Let the precise number be ascertained. Make 
a pleasant thing of the matter ; and see who 
shall come nearest to the fact, in a guess about 
the measure of fruit from the tree, or of potatoes 
or turnips or any other production from the 
ground. Although you make a pastime of your 
guessing and counting, the judgment thus edu- 
cated will be a circumstance of positive practical 
gain in those affairs where gain or loss depends 
on accuracy of judgment. 

This counting-sport might be carried on in 
many ways, and to an indefinite extent, among 
brothers and sisters, to enliven the home. But 
the parents, especially the father, might well, 
in the evening's leisure, take a part in these 
numerical operations. Agricultural life affords 
a great variety of instances for this kind of 
mental action. Indeed, in any sort of civilized 
life, there must be purchases of farm-products, 
and numerous opportunities for maturing the 
judgment about numbers, quantities, bulk, and, 
we may add, cost. There is scarcely a family 
which does not suffer more or less detriment in 
consequence of poor judgment about commodi- 
ties bought and moneys paid. Certainly, the 
needed ability cannot be had, except by expe- 



200 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

rience ; and this experience might as well begin 
as soon as nature gets ready for it, as to be 
deferred to long afterwards, when immediate 
occasion shall require. 

AN ECONOMICAL IDEA. 

One particular application of the numerical 
faculty is very easy and of practical importance, 
and must therefore be interesting to the young 
learner. Yarious things of household use are 
in sets, consisting of a definite number. For 
instance : so many chairs belong to a room ; or 
there is a particular number in a set of crockery, 
of knives and forks, and of spoons. The child 
will most easily count these, and hold the num- 
ber in memory. This is a matter of practical 
use ; for, unless the number of these things is 
kept in mind, there may be an unheeded loss. 
It will be really a strengthening of the charac- 
ter, and a positive preparation for carefulness 
in the future, to give a daughter quite early a 
specific charge over these more losable imple- 
ments. There are also other sets of things, the 
number of which might be obtained and held 
with advantage ; such as napkins, towels, pillow- 
cases, sheets, and perhaps other kinds of furni- 
ture. By this application of the enumerative 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 201 

ability, you might early enlist a daughter's spe- 
cial interest in your goods and their safety. 
In this connection, moreover, she might be 
easily led to consider it her duty to keep them 
all in their proper places, in their proper order, 
and with all desirable nicety. This care will be 
a relief to yourself, mother, and a profitable 
discipline to her. 

There is no reason why a boy also might 
not be trained in this numerical knowledge 
as to household matters. Of course, he is ade- 
quate to it equally with a sister ; and, together 
with her, he is more particularly under the 
maternal care in his earlier years. It is alto- 
gether proper, and it will be beneficial for him, 
to learn whatever he may, in company and in 
sympathy with sisters. All indoor knowledge, 
however minute, will the better qualify him for 
manhood and a new home of his own. Every 
man should have at least a general knowledge 
of his own household affairs, however perfect 
the wife may be in her administration. Now, 
inasmuch as a boy's home education ordinarily 
continues for some years, it would be altogether 
easy for him to become thoroughly acquainted 
with the matters belonging to the domestic 
domain. It could not but be, in most cases, 



202 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

altogether pleasant also, as long as he is privi- 
leged with such affectionate companionship. 

OUTDOORS. 

There are, however, outdoor concerns in which 
a boy can exercise numerical accuracy and care 
about sets and classes of things. Let him count 
the fowls on the premises, get the precise num- 
ber in each flock of a species, and have an eye 
that none are missing. So also let him know, 
and keep in mind, the exact number of cows, 
sheep, and their young, or whatever else of the 
domestic animal kind may pertain to the home- 
stead. A sister also might very properly accom- 
pany him in sympathy and care ; for thus her 
mind would be expanded, and, without any un- 
due straining or task -work, would easily and 
agreeably acquire an initiation into that outdoor 
knowledge which the future wife eventually 
might wish to have in the possessions, plans, 
and operations of her husband. 

Some may smile at this reference to probable 
domestic life ; but just as surely as early habits 
of any kind will influence the remote future for 
good or for evil, so surely will this sort of know- 
ledge and carefulness effect the future economi- 
cal character of the woman. 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 203 



OWNERSHIP. 

In this counting of furniture sets and of flocks 
and herds, a child's interest must naturally be 
quickened by the circumstance, that they be- 
long to parents, and have a certain use. This 
matter of ownership will draw the little heart 
toward them. It would be quite a different 
affair to put the numeric faculty to work on 
stones in the public road, or pebbles along a 
water-shore. Let it be especially considered, 
that the idea of possession and utility will be of 
no small importance to the incipient arithmeti- 
cian. In continuing, therefore, this sort of 
discipline indefinitely onward, let the exercise 
be as much as possible on objects of property. 
Let there be a sort of game to see who can 
recollect the largest number of articles, or sorts 
of useful things, belonging to the house or the 
premises around, as they would not all be in 
immediate sight. 

In this thorough enumeration of goods, there 
is one practical advantage, which is certainly of 
no small importance. It occasions the young 
learner to become acquainted in detail with the 
various commodities, and objects of possession, 
within and around the home. Young persons 



204 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

generally have but a vague and imperfect know- 
ledge of these things. By this exercise, they 
will get in mind an inventory of property, almost 
as if they were making an appraisal. They will 
acquire a habit of exactness as to what is pos- 
sessed. Besides, there will come indirectly 
some notion of the specific uses of things : this 
will be an additional advantage. How many peo- 
ple have a very confused idea of their own pos- 
sessions ! The confusion reaches and continues 
into their daily affairs with a quite injurious 
effect. Now, could an accurate apprehension as 
to these matters of property be made a habit of 
the mind from very childhood, it would influence 
a whole business life. It would certainly be of 
no small importance in conducting the concerns 
of a store, especially one containing all sorts of 
goods, as is more generally the case in the 
country. 

It may be objected to the plan of giving chil- 
dren this special idea of property and ownership, 
that it will make them think too much of mate- 
rial possessions, and strengthen their affection 
for these things to a degree which in after-life 
might be detrimental to the character. Such a 
consequence would greatly depend on the native 
mental constitution. No doubt, some children 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. * 205 

have the love of gain so born with them, that, 
without any counter-influences, these exercises 
would really intensify the inherited avarice. 
But there is to be a moral and religious educa- 
tion ; and, if parents are as faithful in this as in 
the discipline pertaining to material things, any 
such tendency will, in general, be quite suffi- 
ciently counteracted. Let it be understood by 
readers, once for all, that in this treatise there 
is intended no such neglect of the higher nature 
as will leave the lower unrestrained, or in the 
least degree unbalanced. 

COUNTING ON INDEFINITELY. 

After the class of things above referred to 
shall all have been gone over, the exercise may 
be continued on objects which excite no inter- 
est, except that they are to be enumerated one 
after another, each adding to the sum. With 
the start which the young numberer gets in the 
way suggested, he will now be able to count to 
almost any extent. Let him push ahead on 
any thing which comes handiest. 

Outdoors there are, for lessons, trees in the 
woods, and stones in the walls. In counting 
the trees, it may be worth while to remark, 
there will incidentally arise some knowledge of 



206 .THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

species and their uses. There must necessarily 
be caught some glimpses of dendrology, to use 
a scientific term ; which, as long and hard as it 
seems, a child would remember as well as any 
other word. Indeed, in touching and individu- 
alizing the stones in a wall, as he should trip 
alongside, what curious varieties he might dis- 
cover ! and thus the diverse riches of mineralogy 
would now begin to open on him, if not before. 
Within doors the learner may sit at ease ; and 
with a measure of corn, beans, or peas, or the 
smaller grains, he may count on for hours, if he 
shall choose, and renew the operation day after 
day. And why should he not, if there be time 
and inducement ? He may as well do this at 
home as many other quite idle things, or some- 
thing at school called " education," but which 
amounts to nothing at all toward this end. 
Every grain he touches is an individual object ; 
it is a unit ; it is as much a distinct and observa- 
ble object as if it were a mountain ; it goes to 
make up a sum which is denominated a thousand 
or a million. Now, just let a child, of adequate 
age and ability, enumerate palpable, individual 
substances in this way ; and he will proceed, not 
vaguely and confusedly, but clearly, definitely, 
and with a perfect intelligence, to almost any 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 207 

amount of numbers, piled up, in idea, one upon 
another. Then, when he shall come to the 
examples of the text -books at school, what 
otherwise would be empty abstractions will to 
imagination cover and contain, as it were, like 
clothing, substantial and definite forms. He 
will have a distinct idea of numerical quantities 
and relations, such as will be of invaluable ser- 
vice in the higher mathematical regions, where, 
as things have been, learners too often grope in 
a dark and cold misty expanse. 

POWER OF CONCENTRATION AND OF INDIVIDUALITY 
IMPROVED. 

Still other benefits from our enumerative ex- 
ercise may be adduced. It afibrds opportunity 
for concentrating attention. It would have the 
effect to bring a naturally unsteady and wander- 
ing mind to act for a time continuously in a 
specific direction. This is no small matter in 
education, and also in the practical affairs of 
life. 

Again : the act of counting one by one neces- 
sarily develops, more or less, the individualizing 
faculty. An object must be apprehended as a 
distinct unit : it is individualized. Perhaps, in- 
deed, this is the best method possible of deve- 



208 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

loping the central and leading perceptive power. 
The occasion would be of special importance to 
a child whose individuality might be naturally 
weak, as is often the case. Such a person, in 
passing along a village street, would have a 
vague idea of houses ; and this would be all : 
but, if he was set to counting the houses, each 
one would come, at least momentarily, into dis- 
tinct notice, and in some degree also its conco- 
mitant circumstances. Or, supposing you take 
such a child to a store, you might suggest to 
him to count, while you are doing an errand, all 
the kinds of things he might see on the counter, 
shelves, or anywhere else, without being obtru- 
sive beyond propriety. Then afterward, let him 
give you his account, and you will find that his 
store-visit has been quite an instructive occa- 
sion. Still further, the subordinate observing 
faculties would be called into exercise more or 
less in connection with individuality. Of course, 
as each object is enumerated and noticed, its 
form, size, color, place, &c., would be also in 
some degree observed. Thus we perceive how 
a simple operation, which at home is carried 
scarcely beyond thumbs and fingers, except in 
abstract words, and which is pursued at school 
probably never beyond the numerical balls, may 



'<k 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 209 

be made the means of large, various, and most 
profitable discipline. 

It is hoped that enough has been said to 
show clearly, that simple counting is no unim- 
portant item in intellectual discipline. Let it 
not, then, be neglected because it is not included, 
to the extent indicated, in the customary educa- 
tional programme, or because there is no prece- 
dent for it in ordinary experience. 

BUSINESS ARITHMETIC. 

In the young learner's first arithmetical exer- 
cise, — enumeration, — the importance of having 
things to accompany words must be most evi- 
dent to the reader. But, furthermore, the same 
will hold true of other numerical operations. 
The purpose of the ordinary arithmetical educa- 
tion is to prepare the student for the business 
of adult life. The more, therefore, that num- 
bers and figures directly pertain to real sub- 
stances and to actual transactions, the more 
immediate and practical will be their bearing on 
future exigencies. Could exercises in addition, 
subtraction, multiplication, division, &c., directly 
concern commodities ; and could they, moreover, 
be performed right in their midst, — there would 
be a reality and an interest which could not be 

14 



210 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

felt at the distance of the school, and especially 
in such abstract examples as generally make the 
lessons of the book. It is a common remark 
with business-men, that they did not understand 
arithmetic, after all the time spent on it at 
school, till they had occasion to use it in their 
own actual affairs. The reason of this is very 
plain. In their business, there are certain mate- 
rial substances. If these are not, at the moment, 
within sight, they are before the mind's eye: 
the numerical relations of these things are, there- 
fore, more distinctly apprehended. There is no 
blur of abstraction about them. A calculation 
must be made, and this with perfect accuracy : 
no guesswork can be allowed here. Hence 
there is a real and pressing demand on the 
science of number. The interests, the feelings, 
and the arithmetical operation, all tend together 
toward one end. Something of immediate and 
practical importance is to be accomplished. No 
wonder, then, that men who have quite forgotten 
their schoolbook rules, should now invent rules 
of their own ; and, as is sometimes the case, 
even make short cross-cuts to accurate and pro- 
vable conclusions. Such is the testimony of 
practical experience. 

Now, could instruction be transferi'ed to the 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 211 

store, the mechanic's shop, or the farm, there is 
no doubt that arithmetic would be understood 
and appreciated to a degree which cannot possi- 
bly be realized at the schoolroom, as the science 
is there more generally communicated. The 
intellect may be, to some degree, disciplined by 
the abstract lessons there : they are better than 
nothing. This discipline, however, falls far short 
of what would come from the demands of actual 
business. 

FAMILY CIPHERING. 

But the school must remain in its one assigned 
location. Its exercises are likely to continue 
for some considerable time as before, — abstract 
and unreal ; for it takes a long while to improve 
text-books, and, we may add, to improve some 
of the teachers who superintend their use. 
Now, parents, must your children be limited to 
schoolbook examples? Must they remain with 
this hazy, half-way knowledge of arithmetic, 
until they also shall come into the actual busi- 
ness of adult life, or at least that of apprentice- 
ship? By no means, if you will only take a 
little pains yourselves. You have had your 
own schooldays, and have gone through the 
abstractions as your children are doing now, and 



212 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

probably with no more profit. But, since then, 
you have been putting these dimly apprehended 
abstractions to concrete and positive use. Per- 
haps you have been inventing rules and methods 
of your own. At any rate, you can apply num- 
ber and figure to visible and palpable commodi- 
ties, to all the intents and purposes of livelihood 
and accumulation. Now, it is just such an 
application which your own children need at 
this very moment, and which most probably they 
cannot have, except in an imperfect degree, at 
school. Why, then, shall they not have it at 
home, and under the instruction of those whom 
they naturally love better than any one outside 
the family circle ? All you have to do is to sit 
down among them in the leisure evening, and 
present the examples of your own business, just 
such as you have worked out in your own head, 
or on slate or paper, at your need. If you have 
been long in life, your memory must abound in 
instances ; or you can invent numerous exam- 
ples similar to what really occur. Depend upon 
it, arithmetic will put on a new aspect to the 
learners, all the brighter and all the more plea- 
sant because it shines out from a light reflected 
by the most beloved and trusted friends. If 
you have not been called by your own afiixirs 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 213 

to make much use of numbers, and your own 
school - abstractions — figure - shadows, as they 
may be called — have been quite forgotten, have 
fallen even from shadows into absolute nothing- 
ness, — then you can become a fellow-learner 
with your children. With this fresh school- 
knowledge, such as it is, they can perhaps 
instruct you, or at least be the occasion of your 
learning. You can, at least, mutually assist 
each other in real, lifelike performances in cal- 
culation. Your larger general experience and 
maturer judgment will, of course, take a re- 
spected lead. Home is the proper place for 
children in the evening; but then there must 
be work or study, or some sort of entertainment, 
to make home agreeable, and worth staying in, 
preferably to any outside allurements. Sup- 
pose, now, for once you try, among other things, 
this arithmetical experiment ; and see if it does 
not, as the saying is, come to something. 

EXPLANATION. 

By what has been said, let it not be inferred 
that any objection is intended to the more ab- 
stract exercises in numbers, in due process of 
an advanced education. This right beginning 
indicates really no hinderance to an ascent into 



214 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

the veriest sublime of mathematics. Indeed, the 
best assurance for the profoundest attainments 
in this science must be thoroughly distinct ideas 
of material objects in their numerical relations 
at the outset. 

In conclusion, let me say that I have dwelt to 
such extent on this topic, for the reason, that, 
in the arithmetical branch of education, as in 
almost every other, time, pains, and money are 
spent out of all proportion to profitable results. 
Boys and girls, instead of going straight on, step 
after step, in clear light and on a palpable path, 
learning the world and its things as they really 
are, wander, or rather perhaps are driven, over 
ground without any certain foot-hold, — a sort 
of ghost-land. They are set to peer after and 
strike at flitting images, and not to lay hold on 
substantial knowledge, which stops and stays in 
the hand. 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 215 



ACTION. 



THE POWER OF EVENTUALITY. 

It is one of the earliest perceptive functions to 
observe action, to see what things do, to watch 
curiously for what shall be done next. No 
matter what it is that acts or simply moves : the 
little eyes are intent. It may be the flitting of 
a feather or the flutter of a leaf. If the object 
is a living one, like the kitten, the dog, the 
horse, or a bird, how delightedly the varying 
movements are followed ! The comings and 
goings of human beings still more strike atten- 
tion, especially those of new forms and faces, 
which may happen along. 

Now, the observing of movement requires a 
distinct operation of the intellect. Puss asleep 
and perfectly still in her corner is a subject of 
notice altogether diflTerent from her skipping 
across the room and hopping into some indul- 
gent lap. So difibrent is the action of an indi- 
vidual object from the individual itself, that 
phrenologists affirm there must be a distinct 



216 THE DISCIPLINE OP THE 

faculty to take cognizance of it. Indeed, they 
think they have discovered a special organ for 
the purpose in the brain. This organ, the physi- 
cal and material together, is denominated Even- 
tuality. Whether the theory be true or not, it 
gives us a more distinct idea of the intellect in 
its relation both to actions in continuance and 
actions completed. Now, this particular observ- 
ing faculty is of incalculable importance in the 
educational course of the young. It needs a 
systematic and thorough discipline as much as 
any other power. 

DIFFERENCES IN THE OBSERVING POWER. 

Parents and educators have scarcely thought 
of the difference between one person and an- 
other as to the ability of clearly perceiving 
actions as they occur before the sight. Even 
in the same family, one organization will be 
found much superior to another as to this sharp- 
sightedness at events. One particular child 
will be strangely and habitually unobservant of 
incidents around. Ask him if he saw such a 
thing done, and he knows nothing about it. It 
is as if he had been closed round with a thick 
mist, or been living in a dream-world of his own, 
or had no eyes at all. His brother, much 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 217 

younger it may be, catches, at the same time, 
every passing circumstance as with a kind of 
appetite. He will look and learn at any rate. 
He will see incidents just in the order and con- 
nection in which they took place, and he will 
narrate them with equal exactness. Now, these 
differences will run on through life, and charac- 
terize the mental operations and acquirements, 
and perhaps the material fortunes, of the two 
relatives. The originally strong power will 
become stronger through ever-new occasions, 
which it instinctively seizes on just for its own 
gratification. It will grow because it cannot 
help growing. On the other hand, the defective 
perception will still continue weak and inade- 
quate ; that is, unless it shall be developed by 
special training or by peculiar circumstances of 
business or necessity. 

The eventuality of the majority of people, 
though of normal and average strength, is so 
utterly neglected in specific education as but 
very imperfectly to perform its office. The 
world is full of action. Things inanimate are 
in movement, and produce effects. Living crea- 
tures, while awake, are almost always in casual 
motion, or in definite procedure to certain ends. 
So thick, so various, are activities of one sort 



218 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

and another around the human being, that he 
cannot possibly notice all of them. He observes 
only a part, and such as attendant circumstances 
may bring to sight. Even these he may not 
observe distinctly and accurately, because there 
seems no special need of it. He notices, if he 
notices at all, simply because he happens to 
look. As a general matter, there is no direct- 
ness of attention caused by any previous special 
discipline. There is, moreover, no sense of 
moral obligation through which he shall endea- 
vor to know exactly what takes place as he 
looks. Of course, if there is no call for particu- 
larity, why should the child or the youth be 
particular ? He will have no more reason for it 
than he would have in counting the trees in the 
orchard, or the stones in the wall, till he should 
be put upon the exercise, as in the case of the 
arithmetical discipline which has been already 
advised. 

CONSEQUENCES OF NEGLECTED CULTURE. 

Thus it is that a faculty of incalculable prac- 
tical importance has failed in its office ; and, like 
all neglects and failures, this has been followed 
by more or less of retribution. To consider all 
the evils resulting from inaccurate observation 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 219 

of facts, and careless statements about them, 
would be to take in all the world and all time 
since Adam's fall. Words and figures would 
fail of the amount. A*few instances will give 
us some faint idea of the abounding evil. 

A careless young observer, giving an account 
of some disorder in a schoolroom, will make a 
statement quite different from what might have 
come from another witness with a clear-seeing 
eye. In consequence, some poor urchin may 
get an unjust punishment. The same careless 
describer of the offence, coming to be a man, or 
even before he arrives at this age, may be called 
to the witness-stand in a court of justice ; and 
may unintentionally testify so wide of the truth 
as to what his eves seemed to behold, that a 
fellow-man may innocently be subjected to fine, 
imprisonment, or even death on the gallows. 
Now, consider all the millions of cases, which, 
in all the world, have been brought before ma- 
gistracies and juries, and there decided according 
to testimony ; and we can have some idea of the 
thousands of unjust decisions, — unjust because 
of the imperfect perceptions of really honest 
witnesses. 

Take human society as it exists everywhere 
around us. Suppose any city, town, village, 



220 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

or even little neigliborhood : what misapprehen- 
sions and misstatements of facts are continually 
occurring I Now and then, some base scandal 
starts up, and comes to an enormous growth. 
In the majority of such cases, the story is not 
an entire fabrication. There has been some 
incident as a groundwork. But the eyes of the 
first observer and reporter of that incident were 
so inadequate to their office, that he gave only 
a part of the truth, or added a trifle to it. Thus 
the error first sprang into existence ; then, pass- 
ing from lip to lip, it grew at length into a great 
fiction, having but little of the original verity 
about it. All this might happen through a 
mere intellectual defect, without the least inten- 
tion of departure from the exact truth. 

Again : the mistake might originate from the 
same incapacity in some one of the hearers of 
an affair. It must be understood, that those 
persons, who would naturally see a transac- 
tion but imperfectly, would also, from the same 
weakness of faculty, get imperfect notions in 
hearing an account of a transaction, even if 
that should be thoroughly correct. In the first 
place, they receive but a dim idea of an 
occurrence as it comes to the ear ; then they 
but faintly remember it. In a procedure em- 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 221 

bracing a series of incidents, some one item 
or more may fall out of memory altogether. 
Consequently, their statement of the case will 
make quite a different matter. Thus, how- 
ever exactly truthful a first observer and 
narrator may be, hearers will inadvertently re- 
ceive only dim and altogether inadequate ideas 
of an aflfair. In this way, a chance auditor of 
some truthful narration may start a most egre- 
gious error on its irrepressible course through 
the lips and ears of a community. While there 
is but one original witness, and he entirely 
truthful, there may be at length a hundred hear- 
ers of his account, many of whom will uninten- 
tionally repeat it with more or less variation 
from the facts as they come to their ears. No 
wonder that falsifications so numerously and so 
universally prevail, when we consider this one 
simple, unthought-of intellectual deficiency. 

Still, all the evil is not to be imputed to this 
source. There are very often moral perversities 
through which such mistakes are magnified, and 
made far more operative for evil. A charac- 
teristic love for gossip, together with peculiar 
imaginative ability, will enlarge a trifle into 
wonderful magnitude, and diversify it with 
curious forms. But, what is much worse, an 



222 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

uncharitable, sensorious disposition will exagge- 
rate and .blacken little innocent affairs into 
heinous sins or even enormous crimes. A bad 
spirit, with a big imagination, will create mon- 
sters out of almost nothing. Thus it is that 
heartburnings, broken friendships, and even 
bloody assaults and cruel murders, have come 
to pass without number. Yery few, as society 
has been and now is, go through life without 
some personal experience of the sort. 

MISTAKEN SUBMISSION TO THE EVIL. 

Such carelessness has there always been in 
observation and statement, so uncommon is per- 
fect accuracy, that errors are taken as a matter 
of course, and as what cannot be helped. While 
an individual is under personal grievance, he 
will complain of careless eyes and truthless 
speech ; but otherwise there is a singular indif- 
ference to the evil. People do not expect the 
truth. They are inured to falsehood, and let it 
go. No idea of improvement in the way of 
education has occurred probably to one in a 
thousand. Any moral obliquity, it is expected, 
may possibly be corrected by Christian influ- 
ences ; but any thing further is hardly con- 
sidered within the range of reform. Things are 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 223 

as they have been ; and so must they continue 
to be, unless supernatural influences shall arrest 
their course, and make a change. 

WHAT A NEW DISCIPLINE WOULD DO. 

It is rational to suppose, that much improve- 
ment may be achieved by simply understanding 
the mental organism, and conforming the early 
discipline to its conditions. There is a great 
advantage in good intellectual habits, independ- 
ent of moral convictions and principles, if these 
latter influences on conduct cannot be had. Let 
a child be trained, as a matter of discipline, to 
see and describe things exactly as they are ; and 
this habit of accuracy will continue in after-life, 
just as any other habit may continue, entirely 
separate from the thought of moral obligation. 
A person may be educated to extraordinary 
facility in arithmetical calculations : no moral 
element enters into this peculiar ability. Just 
so it may be with the perception of events. 
Could all the families of a neighborhood be 
trained, from their earliest infancy upward, to 
see things precisely as they are, and to describe 
them just as they were seen ; and could the 
same discipline be carried into schools, and the 
pupils there be trained to be as exact in obser- 



224 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

vation and description as they are trained to be 
exact in performing arithmetical problems, — 
there would be an unexampled improvement in 
conversational trustworthiness and in neighborly- 
relations. There would be, as there is in other 
things, a sort of emulative desire for accuracy, 
and perfect truthfulness to fact. A failure as to 
the precise fact would lower the intellectual 
standing and reputation. A faulty observer and 
teller of incidents would be considered as poorly 
educated, like a blundering reader or a bad 
speller. Could such a discipline be carried into 
every family and every school of the country, 
there would be a national reform. A whole 
people would be educated to see events accu- 
rately, as they might be educated to survey 
correctly and minutely the geographical features 
of their native town, as was recommended in 
the suggestions about place. They would be 
capacitated not only to observe actions in their 
progress, but to apprehend the causes and the 
results of action to a degree beyond all former 
precedent. Could moral and religious motives 
be brought to bear on this point of culture as 
they ought, what wonders of improvement might 
be accomplished ! But the all-important aid of 
the conscience and the heart will be hereafter 
considered. 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 225 



HOW THE DISCIPLINE MAY BEGIN. 

As soon as a child shall be able to tell his 
experiences, it may easily be perceived what 
native strength and precision of eventuality he 
may possess. Then, according to his lack must 
be the particularity and assiduousness of his 
educators. 

Now the question comes, Where and how 
shall the necessary training be commenced ? 
There need be no search after lessons ; for — to 
use several of the appropriate terms — motion, 
action, incidents, events, and facts are close by, 
and everywhere around. The first thing that 
happens may be an exercise of discipline, if the 
child is old enough to notice and give some 
account of it. Still there must be advantage in 
system ; and, for this reason, one subject will be 
preferable to another. 

Certain transactions are better suited to begin 
with than others, which might be good for a 
further stage of progress. It is one of the 
acknowledged rules of education to commence 
with what is best known or can be most easily 
known, and thence proceed to things more diffi- 
cult. The chief requisites are distinctness of 

15 



226 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

perception, and correctness in recital. It' is 
important that the several parts of a proceeding 
should be noticed according to their precise 
succession. Those operations are excellent for 
attention and questioning, at the outset, in which 
first one thing is done, then another, in necessary 
order. 

HOUSEHOLD LESSONS. 

The industrial concerns of a household are nu- 
merous and diverse : let them by turns become 
lessons for observation. No better instances 
can be presented to children than the goings-on 
around them in ordinary work. They are inte- 
rested in what their friends do. The smiling 
aspect and kind tones of invitation will be all 
that is wanted to enlist their special attention 
to any movement, or series of movements, per-^ 
formed by their domestic friends. 

But let us illustrate. Take, for example, the 
setting of the table for dinner. There is, first, 
the drawing-out of the table to the proper posi- 
tion ; second, the lifting and fastening of the 
leaves ; then the spreading of the cloth ; and so 
on, — one performance after another, till the 
meal is ready, and the family are at knife and 
fork. Now, let the child, as a matter of disci- 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 227 

pline, exactly describe every process of the 
table-setting in its exact order. Let there be 
no mistake in the sequences, as perfect accuracy 
in this particular respect is one of the benefits 
of the lesson. The same use may be made of 
other household duties in which there is a me- 
thodical routine. Of course, children, whether 
desired or not, usually notice these proceedings. 
These are among the occasions of that uncon- 
scious and gradual development of intellect 
which will go on without care or thought on 
the part of the little lookers or their friends. 
But, according to their native power of even- 
tuality, they may notice each particular of a 
transaction in its due order, or they may have 
but imperfect perceptions and confused ideas. 
The important point aimed at is accuracy in 
seeing and telling, as a settled characteristic ; 
an ability which shall prevent no. small harm, 
and do great good, in that future which depends 
so much on early formed habits. Take mental 
constitutions as they average, and this perfect 
exactness of sight and speech cannot be had 
without some special discipline. The practical 
advantages warrant all the pains which can pos- 
sibly be given to the subject. 



228 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 



MANUFACTURING LESSONS. 

Besides the various kinds of orderly work at 
home; the several divisions of skilled labor, the 
distinct and life-long occupations of people, will 
afiford most valuable exercises in this sort of 
observation. 

First, take those more simple mechanical 
trades which are common in every country vil- 
lage or town, and are mainly carried on by 
hand. In each one of these, there is an orderly 
procedure : first, one thing is done ; then, an- 
other ; and so on through a course of work. 
Now, let a child of adequate age watch the 
processes, and afterward give a«i exact account. 
In due time, have him visit mills and factories, 
and trace their more complex operations ; no- 
ticing how the several connected forces produce 
results. 

AGRICULTURAL LESSONS. 

Educational visits to the farm must certainly 
not be omitted. Its ajBfairs are probably more 
numerous and diverse than those of any other 
separate productive employment. From the 
first touch of culture in the spring till all 
the harvests are gathered in, there is orderly, 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 229 

progressive work. Then, in the winter, there 
is the kindly care of animals in several daily- 
processes. There are, besides, useful but less 
regular doings which come in between the rest. 
Now, all these matters, judiciously presented, 
would be exceedingly interesting and instruct- 
ive to the fresh perceptions of the young. 
They should begin their agricultural observa- 
tions with the earliest movements in the spring. 
Let them notice every distinct kind of labor in 
all its items, and these in their orderly and pre- 
cise succession. Then an account should be 
required as perfectly exact as any prescribed 
recitation at school. 

BENEFITS. 

All industrial occupations might afford les- 
sons similar to those indicated above. It is not 
necessary to particularize any farther. Now, it 
cannot be doubted, that this peculiar discipline 
would be of inestimable advantage to the young 
as candidates for life's activities and uses. No 
descriptive books could equal, or make up for, 
this positive knowledge caught by the naked 
eye. 

One special and important benefit would be 
the obtaining of some considerable insight into 



230 THE DISCIPLINE OP THE 

the various trades and pursuits of men. The 
pupil would also learn something, not only about 
methods of procedure, but about the materials 
and implements used. What is, moreover, of 
much consequence, he would obtain that know- 
ledge of different kinds of business which is 
really necessary to develop his own taste, and 
to form his judgment in respect to the choice 
of an employment for himself. Still further, he 
would eventually come to that understanding of 
the various avocations of men which is quite 
necessary to form a just estimate of their re- 
spective and peculiar services. Indeed, such 
a knowledge would lead to that charity and 
kindliness which is so much needed, but is so 
often withheld. 

WHAT A FATHER MIGHT DO. 

It may be averred, that, in this intelligent 
part of the country, most people have some 
general ideas of the different departments of 
industry. But why not possess a more tho- 
rough and systematic knowledge, when it can 
be so easily gained? During the* years usually 
devoted to education, there might be obtained 
a quite extensive and comparatively intimate 
acquaintance with the various pursuits of life. 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 231 

and this without much that would seem like a 
task. Nothing would be necessary but simply 
to take or make occasions. A father could 
scarcely better employ a little respite from busi- 
ness, than to take his children, as a pleasant 
pastime, to places of various industrial activity. 
A small portion of the time now spent in school 
on studies unadapted to the pupil's age, but 
faintly understood and quickly forgotten, would 
suffice for the purpose. 

nature's works and ways. 

Mai's art and industry should not engage the 
whole attention. In the mean timoj let children, 
from the earliest ability, observe the movements 
and processes of nature. If they are capable of 
admiring human inventions and their effects, 
they can be led to admire and study the wonder- 
ful machinery by which the Creator brings about 
results. Some will see and reflect considerably? 
and ask questions, and grow in knowledge with 
but little prompting. It is not so with the ma- 
jority. They soon become so accustomed to all 
regular phenomena, that they cease to think much 
about them. As for the more covert processes, 
excepting such as may unexpectedly startle their 
sight, they scarcely, by themselves alone, find 



232 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

them out. Whatever is going on continually in 
regular successions of movement, and which has 
been thus going on from the earliest remem- 
brance, is unheeded by most, simply because of 
this very order and constancy. It is with people, 
as they grow gradually up, in respect to the 
mechanism of nature, as it is in respect to the 
household timepiece : they are so accustomed 
to its tick, tick, that they do not hear it ; and, if 
they happen to catch a glimpse of the inner ma- 
chinery, they have no curiosity to study a struc- 
ture, which, close by, has served their conveni- 
ence so well and so long. H 

These faculties, thus admirably fitted to ob- 
serve and know, should not become so deadened 
and useless. The infinite Designer and Maker 
did not so intend. The infant possessor begins 
early and aright to use them. His innate in- 
stincts, almost as soon as he fairly gets his eyes 
open, prompt him to look and learn. How intent- 
ly he gazes on the flickering flame or the waving 
tree I He is pleased with any sort of gentle 
motion. But these instincts should grow into 
earnest desires to look farther and farther, and 
to learn still more and more. All that is needed 
with most is easily-given direction and sympathy. 
At first, the child simply observes movement, 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 233 

and has no thought beyond the impression on his 
sight. But this observation is the initiative step 
toward the whole philosophy of causes, effects, 
and uses. This one perceptive power, eventual- 
ity, holds the key, as it were, to all natural 
science. This science, in large degree, consists 
in understanding how the masses and elements 
of matter, and the organic forms of it, act on 
each other, and what are the ends designed. Of 
course, the action must first be known before it 
can be discerned whence it comes, or to what 
it tends. What rounds, and ranges, and mazes of 
movement between the stupendous rolling and 
circling of worlds and the leaping affinities of 
atoms! — an infinitude of agents and activities; 
millions of distinct organs and offices and opera- 
tions, yet one connected and harmonious me- 
chanism, moved every moment by one infinite 
Power. Now, parent, shall all this be no more 
to your beloved child's curiosity than the ever- 
swinging pendulum or the ceaseless tick of the 
old, convenient clock ? 

CASUAL EVENTS. 

Besides those processes which take place in 
regular routine, and which may be repeatedly 
observed by the learner, and, as it were, got by 



234 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

heart, there are other occurrences which are 
fortuitous and unexpected. Nothing before has 
been exactly like them, and nothing will follow 
exactly similar in the collocation of all the seve- 
ral objects and circumstances. Events of this 
sort are transpiring every moment. Mankind, 
exercising their own wills, are continually doing 
this and that, according to contingencies. It is 
such transactions, not distinctly observed, and 
aflfording no second opportunity for better sight, 
which occasion those misstatements whence 
come innumerable difficulties and heart-burnings 
in society. Perfect accuracy, in observing and 
representing these, is of surpassing importance. 
A habit of being truthful to facts should as 
early as possible be formed. To this end, no 
discipline can hardly be too persistent and 
thorough. 

Those unimportant incidents, ever new and 
various, which are continually happening within 
and around the home, present the most conve- 
nient lessons to the little observer. Of course, 
it is not necessary that he shall get through all 
the methodical processes before alluded to, even 
those within the house, before he may be put 
upon these. Let it be an emphatic requirement, 
that, in his account, he shall omit no circum- 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 235 

stance, nor put one out of its exact order, any 
more than he did in the case of the table-setting, 
or any other fixed and regular proceeding. Thus 
a habit will be formed of distinct and consecu- 
tive observation. Besides, in this way, the 
young mind will be aided in acquiring that 
ability of concentrated attention which is so 
important to success in either study or busi- 
ness. 

If those casual occurrences which are in 
themselves of no special importance shall be 
accurately noticed, those transactions which 
make their mark on a day or a week, or on the 
times, will, of course, secure the pupil's close 
and minute attention. There are those proceed- 
ings which may be not only a discipline, but a 
rich instruction. Among these are public move- 
ments and spectacles. Some of them grow out 
of prevalent tastes and customs ; such as funeral 
and civic processions, ordinary military parades, 
and anniversary occasions. Others make a part 
of the history of the times ; such as the march- 
ing of troops and the sailing of war-vessels, as 
in the present great national crisis. Hitherto, 
no specific and circumstantial attention to such 
events has generally been required as a part of 
education ; but they afford lessons of far greater 



236 THE DISCIPLINE OP THE 

value, if rightly conducted, than are found in 
the naked, crumb-like facts of some historical 
text-books, which wearily occupy much time in 
seminaries of learning. 

INFLUENCE UPON LITERATURE. 

It is by no means intended to disparage the 
study of well-written history. Indeed, this in- 
tent and thorough observation, this study of pass- 
ing affairs, will be a valuable preparative for the 
study of history in the school, or for the profit- 
able perusal of it at any subsequent time. It 
will be a useful qualification for any sort of read- 
ing in which facts are comprised. A person who, 
from constitutional defect, takes but a slight or 
confused notice of present occurrences, will have 
but a slight remembrance of them. He will 
have a much more imperfect idea and remem- 
brance of transactions which are presented only 
through language. The action-noting faculty, 
which has been well disciplined by what trans- 
pires immediately before it, will be more readily 
impressed by mere verbal communications. A 
narrated occurrence will thus be more clearly 
conceived of: it will not seem distant and dim, 
but, as it were, present and distinct, to this parti- 
cular observing power. The memory, moreover. 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 237 

will be proportionally retentive ; for each intel- 
lectual faculty is supposed to have a memory of 
its own, so that the eventuality which is keen to 
perceive is also strong to retain. 

This exactness in the knowledge and presenta- 
tion of events, as a matter of culture and general 
habit, must necessarily have a most salutary ef- 
fect upon the literature of the people, both that 
which they themselves make and that which is 
made for them. If conversation shall become 
more true to fact, epistolary communications will 
share the improvement. Gossip by the pen 
will be reformed as well as gossip by the tongue. 
But, beyond this, historical compositions will be 
characterized by more thorough and satisfactory 
research. A public opinion which has been 
trained up to the mark of absolute truth must 
press upon the responsibility of writers, so that 
history, in future, shall not have to be rewritten, 
and the characters of men rejudged, as hereto- 
fore, for the sake of right and justice. 

Again: with this better culture as to action, 
fictitious productions, which now make so large 
a part of the common reading, will be altogether 
more faithful to nature. No small portion of the 
novels, and especially of the juvenile tales, of 
the day, are poor representations of human life. 



238 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

Their authors seem to have been living, from 
childhood up, in an imaginary world. They have 
not studied, as they should, nature and man, in 
those multitudinous activities by which traits 
and qualities are truly made known. Now, this 
special culture of eventuality will supply fancy 
and invention with those truthful materials which 
have hitherto been so much wanting. Thus the 
creations of genius will become verisimilitudes 
of what has been actually experienced, or what 
at least is possible to man in view of the known 
principles of his being and his surrounding con- 
ditions. 

Coming generations will have this true litera- 
ture. When the whole people shall be trained 
to an exact observation of the real and moving 
world, then the few who shall write for the people 
will not fail of that best discipline and knowledge 
which comes through the primitive and surest 
use of the eyes. 

NEWSPAPER REFORM. 

One of the most important benefits to come 
from eventuality, as it should be, is the improve- 
ment in newspaper literature. Everybody in 
our country, who can read at all, reads the news- 
paper. It exerts a wider and deeper influence 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 239 

than any other emanation from the press. It 
does unmeasured good, but also much evil. A 
new appetite has been engendered, or rather a 
constitutional one intensified tenfold. It is a ra- 
bid hunger for something new ; and, besides 
this, for something as much as possible exciting. 
The newspaper would not be a newspaper unless 
it furnished this new thing. Hence a competi- 
tion between journals. That goes ofi" best which 
contains the keenest stimulative for the moment. 
The slightest rumor is caught up, and made the 
most of to-day ; but it may be utterly contra- 
dicted to-morrow. No matter : it serves its end ; 
it satifies the craving. Thus, if no other harm 
is done, thought is prevented from settling down 
on serious and really important subjects. The 
popular mind is unsettled, and is kept unsettled 
and unstable. There is especially a bad effect 
upon the young, who, as they grow up, ought to 
be getting their faculties more and more, and 
continually, into a condition of strength and con- 
solidation. For thorough-going, substantial read- 
ing, there is not tim§ ; and as for deeper science 
and philosophy, they are scarcely thought of 
after leaving the school. 

Now, should there be an education from the 
earliest to a clear perception of passing incidents, 



240 THE DISCIPLINE HP THE 

and to a thoroughly accurate statement of them, 
the young would come up into life with a habit 
of accuracy, and, in consequence, with a taste 
for it. Vague observation, and more vague de- 
scription, would be no part of their experience. 
For such readers, the newspaper item about 
somebody or something must have a ground of 
probability. If such things shall be found within 
a day or a week utterly false, the public taste 
and habit will say, " Away with them ! nothing 
of this I " Thus journals will compete with each 
other for exactness to the truth. A public man's 
character will have a safety not recently expe- 
rienced. A distinguished lady's delicacy will 
not be offended by some false rumor about her, 
as is now sometimes the case, published from 
end to end of the land. Thousands of things, 
utterly unwarranted, will not be breathed into 
growth, as at present, by this hot breath of desire 
for the new and exciting. 

In this advanced age, when steam and tele- 
graph bring news from all quarters of the world, 
sufficient for every day's entertainment, false- 
hood will not be needed. Indeed, there will 
hardly be leisure to glance along the abundance 
of authenticated facts ; and many of these, in 
this new and wonder-producing era, may be quite 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 241 

as attractive to curiosity as any catch-penny fabri- 
cations, or even the more innocent scintillations 
of genius. 

PARTISAN CALUMNIES CHECKED. 

But, above all, the bitter calumnies of political 
partisanship must receive a wholesome check, if 
they do not utterly come to an end. These are 
the worst concomitants of our elective govern- 
ment. These are the abominations of the country. 
These too often thrust our best men prematurely 
into retirement, or prevent them from coming 
out of it at all. As things are now, character is 
mangled, murdered, in political warfare. Could 
the people of this country be trained to be faith- 
ful to fact, a salutary influence must be exerted 
in this direction. A change for the better would 
be wrought, such as hitherto has never been 
known in popular governments. If absolute fact 
be demanded, all electioneering misre'{)resenta- 
tions must cease. That party which should resort 
to falsifications must succumb ; must wear writ- 
ten on its very forehead^ Wrong. Let a thorough 
examination into facts be the groundwork of 
political opinion, and the reason, the intelligence, 
the common sense, of voters would bring an over- 
whelming majority to the side of the right and 

16 



242 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

the best. The people would come to know who 
are their truly wise., good, and great men, and 
would give to them their confidence. The peo- 
ple would confide also in each other. Then, in- 
stead of democracy, deceived, cheated, degraded, 
and made a byword through the monarchies of 
Europe, there would be a democracy like the 
clear shining of the sun after the rain, enlighten- 
ing the eyes, and warming the hearts, of the 
common masses all over the world. It would be 
like a great luminary in the heavens, ascending 
towards its noon, it might be, but there to stand 
still, as the sun did of old, while the true and 
the faithful everywhere should become victori- 
ous and free. 

PRESENT STATE OF OUR NATION. 

But such a state of things has not yet been, 
and many fear that it will not exist perhaps for 
ages. Chir nation, at this moment, heaves and 
tosses like ocean in the storm ; yea, as with the 
more terrible earthquake, opening new chasms 
downward, shooting new volcanoes upward, even 
shaking the nations that are afar ofi*, and per- 
plexing monarchs on their thrones. And all this 
has come from the lies of selfish, wicked men. 
Old custom, the love of ease, of power, of wealth. 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 243 

and luxury, could not possibly have prevailed, 
had it not been for this diabolical " refuge of 
lies." Had the truth as to facts, nothing but the 
truth, been presented from the platform and 
the press for the last thirty years ; had the peo- 
ple received the truth, and reflected it to each 
other just as the millions of the summer dew- 
drops reflect the unfailing, benignant sun, — the 
present fratricidal war could never have been. 
It would have been as utterly impossible as for 
hailstones and thunderbolts to have fallen from 
the cloudless sky on herb and beast and man 
below. 

The demons of falsehood still divide the land. 
The father of lies himself hangs, as it were, in- 
visibly over it, in all his hideous, heaven-defying 
malignity, and scatters his own arrows of destruc- 
tion into the ears and the understandings and 
down into the hearts of a credulous people. 
What the end will be, no one but the omniscient 
God, or foreseeing and truthful angels, can tell. 
Parents, teachers ! such now is the state of our 
country ; and why is it so, why has it been so ? 
Because the parents and teachers, your prede- 
cessors, generation back behind generation, did 
not train the young to see the truth, to speak 
the truth, and to live the truth. It is because the 



244 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

educators themselves have been false : how, 
then, could they train their children and pupils 
to be true? 

Now, shall this state of things remain ? Shall 
it be ages before we shall be a stable people, 
with a stable government and a stable prosperi- 
ty ? It all depends upon you, parents and teach- 
ers of this nation, whether we shall grow into 
safety, and realize the hopes of yearning millions 
the earth over, or not. Accept the views which 
have been here imperfectly presented as to train- 
ing to the truth ; let them be adopted in the 
family, in the school, in the land throughout; 
and, with one addition in the educational plan, 
there will be, there must be, inevitable success. 

DISCIPLINE OP THE CONSCIENCE. 

But this addition is the most important matter 
of all. Without it, there can be no assurance of 
steady progress and of final security. This is 
the culture of the conscience, side by side, with 
the discipline of the observing intellect. No- 
thing can be more true, as all history proves, 
than that the human heart is deceitful above all 
things, and desperately wicked. Such is the self- 
ishness of human nature, — a selfishness acting 
from very infancy, and strengthening with the 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 245 

years, subjugating the intellect to its service, — 
that the conscience must be awakened at the 
earliest, and set to its restraining work. All 
the solemn warnings of religion will be needed 
with some constitutions to make the tongue's 
statement true to the eye's witnessing. Parents, 
upon you is imposed, by the infinitely True, the 
responsibility of quickening the moral sense of 
your children to the surest guardianship over 
the tongue, and, indeed, over the feelings and mo- 
tives which lie beneath the speech. Teach them, 
that knowingly to deviate from exactness, even 
as to trivial incidents, is to be guilty of false- 
hood, and falsehood replete with danger ; for it 
prepares the way for more serious deviations, 
and thence more heinous obliquity. Impress 
upon them, that what has once really taken place 
is fixed : it has been, it exists as a fact for ever. 
However human beings may misconceive it, take 
from it, or add to it, there it is, printed on the 
irreversible page of the past ; there it is, more- 
over, naked before the Omniscient Eye. Neither 
wishes nor prejudices nor passions, nor volumes 
of words, call change it one tittle. In the pro- 
cess of time, and in the passing-away of tempo- 
rary motives and feelings, events may come to 
be seen in their true light. Then self-seekers 



246 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

and falsifiers will stand out exposed in the same 
light, and in their naked deformity. Train your 
children, therefore, to believe and to feel that 
they might as well struggle up, despite of gravi- 
tation, into the clouds for a hiding-place, as to 
struggle away, and for ever keep away, from the 
fastness of fact and the searching severity of 
ruth. 

TWO BEINGS WHO CANNOT BE ESCAPED. 

There are two beings from whom the untruth- 
ful man cannot conceal his guilt. One is himself. 
At the moment of its utterance, he is conscious 
of the falsehood. Henceforth it is written on his 
memory that he has lied. He can no more wipe 
it out than he can wipe out the wrinkles on his 
brow above it, or shape into infantile openness 
the sinister expression of his face. There it is, 
registered on his memory for ever. It may sink 
away from the constant glance of his own 
thought, perhaps it may remain unseen for years; 
but it is not gone. The leaves of more recent 
experiences are but laid over it. Some time, 
with lightning swiftness, those leaves may be 
flung back ; and there, as in years long before, 
blazes out the record, — falsifier, liar. Teach 
your children, therefore, that, if the untruthful 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 2-17 

shall escape all the rest of the world, he shall 
ever, ever, be pursued and found by himself. 

The other being from whom the liar cannot 
hide is that One of whom it is said in the sacred 
oracles, " He that planted the ear, shall he not 
hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? 
Shall not God search this out? For his eyes are 
upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his 
goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of 
death, where the workers of iniquity may hide 
themselves. Hell and destruction are before 
the Lord : how much more, then, the hearts 
of the children of men I " 



248 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 



TIME. 



In close connection with action is another im- 
portant matter of discipline. It regards the 
relation of time. Movement occupies more or 
less of duration according to the space or dis- 
tance passed through, or according to the num- 
ber of motions, as in those indicated by the 
ticking of a time-piece or in the pulsations of 
the blood. It is supposed that there is a special 
faculty for the perception of time, as there is in 
the case of other qualities and relations in nature. 
There are those who can tell almost any hour of 
the day or night, without clock or watch. Such 
persons have a naturally keen perception of time, 
which has been increased by constant use. They 
are always to a moment punctual to their engage- 
ments. They keep nobody waiting ; that is, if 
their moral nature is as true as their one intel- 
lectual ability. Others have a character directly 
the reverse. Owing to a constitutional weakness, 
or the undeveloped condition of this faculty, they 
have but little consciousness of the passing mo- 
ments. In early life, they are behind at school, 
unless well prompted : ag they grow up, they are 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 249 

behindhand in their engagements, behind in 
their business, behind at public meetings. Are 
they on committees or in any service associated 
with others: they are always tardy, and keep 
their fellow-officials in uneasy endurance. Per- 
haps, when they do arrive, they may consume 
much time in needless talk, through the same 
unconsciousness which made them late. 

TIME IN TALK. 

Some persons are particularly unconscious of 
time in conversation. They will spend the whole 
space allotted to the call of a friend on some 
casual topic uninteresting and tedious to the 
hearer, who may wish to touch on subjects more 
accordant with his tastes, or on which he came 
especially to confer. Cases are not infrequent, 
in which speakers, who had been appointed to- 
gether wiiii others to address an audience, have 
appropriated to themselves nearly the whole 
time of the occasion. An opening speech has 
been known to consume about the whole even- 
ing. 

PUBLIC OCCASIONS. 

Again : how often are the movements of vari- 
ous public occasions tediously delayed by the few 



250 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

persons, and indeed by some one individual, hav- 
ing the direction ! So common are such delays, 
that people hardly expect any thing better ; yet 
they are obliged to observe the appointed hour, 
or they might possibly forego the profit of the 
occasion. Thus sometimes the precious hours 
of thousands are irretrievably lost through the 
neglect of a few tardy officials. Let these thou- 
sands of lost hours be aggregated into one 
amount, and their worth to industry estimated, 
and the waste would appear enormous. 

PUNCTUALITY AS TO PROMISES. 

There are other cases in which the pinch of 
punctuality is not sufficiently felt, and disappoint- 
ment and inconvenience may annoy, and possibly 
much pecuniary loss be incurred. For instance, 
how often mechanics and other producers engage 
to furnish articles by a certain datd, and then 
fail of accomplishment I In fact, through all the 
circles of business, promises as to time are fre- 
quently broken : hence losses of money, or com. 
fort at any rate, of good feeling, and perhaps of 
amicable relations. This is a matter of ordinary 
experience. The fact is, that many a man, in 
promising the completion of work at a certain 
day, has but a vague idea of the time necessary 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 251 

for the performance. He goes by guess. His 
judgment as to time and movement has not 
been cultivated. Perhaps he is constitutionally 
defective, and can measure days and hours 
scarcely much better than the senseless clock 
with its machinery askew. 

DISASTROUS ^ACK OF PROMPTITUDE. 

In human affairs, there are crosses and losses 
innumerable and incalculable through lack of 
promptitude. At the first battle of Bull Run, 
the long delay of one division in the morning's 
march was an incidental cause of that lamentable 
defeat. Had our army got into action as early 
as was intended in the commander's plan, a de- 
cisive victory would have probably been won 
several hours before those re-enforcements ar- 
rived which turned the scale in favor of the 
enemy. It was probably a miscalculation as to 
time on somebody's part which prevented the 
pontoon-bridges from reaching Fredericksburg 
coincidently with the army, and thus delaying 
Burnside's great movement and leading to ulti- 
mate defeat. History records numerous in- 
stances of similar disasters. 



252 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 



EARLY ATTENTION TO THE TIME-FACULTY. 

Now, as this defect as to time is often a con- 
stitutional infirmity, it should be understood at 
the very outset of education, and be remedied 
by the most assiduous culture. It may be dis- 
covered, by a little attentioa, what the native 
capacity of children is in this respect. See 
whether they are prompt at school, church, or 
any other place, at the appointed moment. Note 
whether they seem to lose all idea of time in 
play or talk when some pressing duty is before 
them. Should there appear an unconsciousness 
of duration, then they must be watched, and 
trained accordingly. As a disciplinary exercise, 
let them be put in many ways to the exact ob- 
servation of time in the course of ordinary duty. 
In some affairs, certain operations require a cer- 
tain measurable period of time for their accom- 
plishment. The usual routine of every day in 
household or farm matters is divided into several 
parts appertaining to one thing and another. In 
the course of experience and habit, calculations 
are very readily made in respect to the quantity 
of time demanded by each, so that every thing' 
may be attended to and finished in order. But 



OBSERYING FACULTIES. 253 

the young generally need some special disci- 
pline before they can accurately adjust one thing 
to another in their engagements. Some require 
very much care for the purpose. If they should 
be neglected in this matter by the first parental 
educators, they would be likely to go through 
the whole subsequent life, confused themselves, 
and confusing others. Innumerable people con- 
tinue all their days in this unfortunate predica- 
ment, and just from the lack of foresight and 
discipline. 

HELP FROM THE TIMEPIECE. 

Accustom, therefore, children to notice parti- 
cularly the hours, the half-hours, and even the 
minutes, occupied in any regular work or duty. 
Let it be, however, insisted on that performance 
shall be thorough and without fluttering haste. 
In this way, they will learn how to portion out 
time to its several uses. They will be educated 
into a substantial and reliable judgment as to 
the seasons of regular duty. 

There are occasional transactions which also 
may well be made lessons. In doing errands at 
a store or a neighbor's or anywhere else, let the 
time of going and coming at ordinary speed be 
carefully noted. As children are fond of special 



254 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

exercises if tliey but be made agreeable, let them 
guess how long it will take to walk or run a cer- 
tain distance and back again, or to make a certain 
number of motions with the feet or hands in imi- 
tation of work, as in the Kinder-garten plays. 
Suppose any new work is to be undertaken : let 
there be guesses as to the time occupied. In- 
deed, no matter what the operation is, it will 
serve to discipline the young to mark time 
with precision, and to form habits of adjusting 
movements to movements with an economical 
accuracy, which shall be a lifelong benefit to 
themselves and everybody who has to do with 
them. 

MEASURING TIME BY THE SUN. 

It is a good plan, furthermore, to have chil- 
dren measure time by the place and the progress 
of the sun. Let them guess the time of day by 
the sun's position in the sky, and then refer to the 
timepiece to see how near the precise moment 
they have hit. Let such an exercise be pursued 
till the hour of day, at any place of the sun, 
may be quite accurately determined. A similar 
course might be pursued in respect to the moon 
and the stars, for the sake of a more thorough 
education of the faculty, and perhaps for occa- 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 255 

sional and valuable use in emergencies that 
might arise. Indeed, the first idea of time came 
from the regular movements of the heavenly 
bodies. Hence originated those divisions of du- 
ration which are named in the languages, and 
govern the doings of all the world. These phe- 
nomena of the heavens perpetually teach and 
remind mankind of the importance of method or 
economy in the use of time. No lesson pertain- 
ing to life's practical affairs is inculcated on a 
grander scale than this. It is written on the 
expanse of the firmament. It is illustrated by 
revolving globes. Parents ! shall this wisdom, so 
mightily and momentously vouchsafed, be lost to 
your children because you fail to interpret it 
to their understandings and impress it on their 
hearts ? 



256 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 



ORDER. 



In the works of God there is a certain order, or 
methodical arrangement, which is best adapted 
to the end for which they were made. Not only 
organic forms of matter, but the operations by 
which they accomplish their uses, exhibit this 
perfect adaptation of one thing to another, and 
of means to ends. Thus they give an all-impor- 
tant lesson to man for his own works and ways. 
In human affairs, it is by a similar systematiza- 
tion that the greatest good is brought to pass. 

A SPECIAL FACULTY. 

It is supposed that there is a special mental 
faculty which takes cognizance of order. It 
gives to the individual the ability to notice and 
appreciate it in things around ; and also the 
ability to do things, and keep things himself, ac- 
cording to the same rule. There are sometimes 
wide differences between one person and another 
as to the native strength of this faculty. To be 
convinced of this, we have but to recall our ex- 
periences with various people. One has a place 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 257 

for every thing, and keeps every thing in its own 
place. Such a one is thoroughly systematic in 
business. That thing is done first which in good 
judgment should come first. He knows when 
his work is completed. There are no hurried 
runnings or flurried huddlings to finish up what 
was supposed to be already finished. With him, 
'' done " means done, and is truly so. His anti- 
cipated leisure is not all cut up or cut short 
in the least by his own neglects. As far as 
depends on himself, he is always sure of time 
for pastime. Just like the sun that regularly 
shines on him, he knows his exact path, and his 
exact place in that path, at every hour from 
morning until evening ; and then he knows 
when his day is done, as the sun knows his 
going-down. 

How entirely different from this is the con- 
stitutional character and prevalent habits of 
another person ! Indeed, how many there are, 
who, as to 'a systematic disposition of things, 
are about as much to be calculated on as the 
dust blown and tossed by the wind ! They can- 
not calculate on themselves. They are disturbed 
by tendencies which have crept into their na- 
tures from some progenitor : so these tendencies 
impel them to and fro, up and down, evermore, 

17 



258 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

because no educating hand came in good season 
to the rescue. 

Such being the contingencies of poor human 
nature, they should be looked after without fail, 
and right early. The educator should under- 
stand the child's native mark of ability to appre- 
ciate order and conform to its laws. It can soon 
be seen whether much attention shall be re- 
quired. Be the faculty stronger or weaker, it 
should be put to its use, and consequently under 
discipline, the same as the other intellectual 
powers. The parent's loving heart will be glad 
at an easy task ; and the same heart, together 
with a quickening conscience, will prompt to 
perseverance and insure success in the more 
difficult case. 

HOW TO DISCIPLINE THE FACULTY. 

Let us now consider what a child may be put 
upon quite early in the way of training the 
faculty of order. 

I once knew a child, not more than nine months 
old, who was disturbed and uncomfortable when 
some prominent article in the room, as a table, 
work-stand, or chair, was not in its accustomed 
place. He would point with his finger, together 
with a significant, indeed an imploring expres- 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 259 

sion of his eye, to the thing in its irregular posi- 
tion. This child, no doubt, possessed the faculty 
of order in very strong constitutional develop- 
ment. But we may infer from the instance, that 
children, on the average, may, in this respect, be 
quite early trained to strength and accuracy. A 
child who only creeps might be set to the use of 
pushing a displaced chair into its position in line 
w4th the other chairs. When he shall get fairly 
upon his feet, he might have a care, according to 
strength, that any article of furniture in the room, 
when out of place, should be put right. Such a 
charge would be not only a discipline in the plan 
of the parent, but it would be an actual pleasure 
in the idea of a child. He wants to move ; he 
cannot bear to be still : if he can do things to a 
certain end like others, and especially if he can 
gratify others by his activities, he is in his life's 
delight. 

CARE OF PLAYTHINGS AND CLOTHES. 

Accustom a child to take the best possible 

care of his own playthings, — to have a special 

place for them when not in use. They should 

never be thrust confusedly down, and lie in a 

^mble, as so often happens, but be laid by with 

<much regard for convenient arrangement and 



260 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

neatness as any implement of adnlt industry 
may be put away, each where it belongs. This 
order about playthings will be an important pre- 
paration for order in the work-things of after-life. 

Still further : let children be educated to keep 
their own clothes in the best possible disposure 
in the drawer, chest, or closet, or wherever they 
may be placed. Let each article, however small, 
have its own particular position, where, if need 
be, it might be found in the dark. 

Their clothes, on being taken off for the night, 
should be put in a certain definite and appro- 
priate place : not here at one time, and there at 
another, but in the best position for airing; and 
each article in such a manner as to be most easily 
come at, even without light. Thus, in the case of 
fire and the necessity of quick escape, whether at 
home or abroad, whether at the house of a friend 
or at a strange hotel, the clothes could at least 
be snatched by the hand, if there should not be 
time to put them on. By an orderly habit of this 
sort, thousands in the conflagrations of the past 
would not have been driven almost nake. ""^om 
the burning into opposite elements, whi 
eased them perhaps for life by their in 
cies. "^ 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 261 



HOUSEHOLD MATTERS. 



When children shall be old enough to assist in 
household affairs or other duties, it is of much 
consequence that they should do every thing 
according to that exact succession of operations 
by which any kind of work can be most speedily 
and most thoroughly accomplished. Days and 
weeks, and, in a long life, even months, are lost 
to some, because the precise firstly, secondly, 
thirdly, &c., are not linked into habit. The buzz- 
ing, clattering, rumbling factories of all sorts 
might instruct such wasters ; for here must be a 
certain beginning, a regular progress, and a de- 
finite and sure completion. 

Early and fixed habits of this sort will have 
great influence on their own industrial condi- 
tions and success in the far future. In the case 
of girls, the practice of order cannot be too early 
commenced, and it should never be intermitted. 
They grow up right in the midst of those matters 
and things, the like of which is to make their 
owf: liiief duty as wives and mothers. Laxity of 
-?'•' i >m girlhood, unreformed then, will run very 
Ay a disturbing force through all their 
ju. • eeping future. 



262 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 



BOYS. 

In the case of boys, they may be put to ap- 
prenticeships in which there is a necessity for a 
certain order, as in mechanical trades and the use 
of machinery. They may be compelled to be 
systematic in their vocations to a certain extent; 
yet, in other affairs, they may fall into exceeding 
laxity and confusion. Whatever, therefore, they 
have to do, within or around the house, should 
be performed with regularity and precision; not 
only because it is best for the occasion, but be- 
cause it will be a valuable discipline toward their 
future. 

NEATNESS. 

Personal neatness comes under this head of 
order. This, with some constitutions, will be 
found to require much training and discipline. 
There are children, who, from a native instinct, 
have a strong abhorrence of any soiling of their 
persons or clothes. They are early quite sen- 
sible of any lack of neatness about a room. 
Others are much the reverse. These seem to 
enjoy dirt and disorder as much as others do the 
best condition of things. These disorderly na- 
tures must be early looked to, and continually 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 263 

watched as they go along up, that, through mere 
discipline, they may have that habit of neatness 
which will be necessary for the comfort and satis- 
faction of others, if not for their own. Many a 
man, slovenly in his person and in his business, 
many an untidy woman and housekeeper, might 
have been blessed with at least average habits 
of neatness, had they been properly disciplined 
in their early homes. Such children should be 
set particularly to put and keep things in order 
about a house or the surroundings. If any thing 
should be out of place, they, above all others, 
should be set to put it in place. If they must 
go, in case of need, up into the garret, down 
into the cellar, to some distant out-house, or 
away into a field, so much the better. The far- 
ther they shall have to run, the more impressive 
and profitable the practical lesson. This sort of 
task should be made an imperative duty, to be 
continued as long as is necessary. By this dis- 
cipline, such faulty organizations will be forced 
into the desirable habits, even against their own 
natures. 

There is a neatness in work, and in the way of 
doing a thousand little things, which many peo- 
ple, for the lack of early education, do not pos- 
sess. They will drop and slop, spill and spatter, 



264 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

in every direction, simply because they are not 
trained to steadiness of hand, carefulness of the 
foot, or quick observation of the eye. Pains and 
perseverance with such children will save much 
trouble under the parental roof, and will pre- 
vent them, doubtless, from innumerable discom- 
forts and a thousand chagrins in their own future 
home. But let it be most especially remembered, 
that example will be unspeakably more powerful 
than precept. The young will hardly practise 
order amid the surrounding confusion of their 
elders. The disorder in which they have been 
brought up, and to which they have been from 
the earliest accustomed, is quite likely to be the 
earliest and habitual experience of their own 
rising families, and to become, possibly, the un- 
profitable inheritance of generations still beyond. 

AN APPEAL. 

Parents 1 for your own sakes in the dear home, 
for the sake of loved children in their future 
abodes and vocations, and for the sake of that 
common usefulness every one owes to his kind ; 
for the sake of some higher and wider good 
your son or daughter may be providentially 
called to accomplish, — do not omit a duty com- 
paratively so easy as the one now enjoined. 



. OBSERVING FACULTIES. 265 

Train your young families to that methodical 
arrangement, to that best order, so necessary to 
give to art and industry and to all virtuous en- 
deavors the highest success. By such a habit, 
work which must be done, however coarse, may 
be done in a way which is not only the shortest 
and the easiest, but which may have even some- 
thing like a gracefulness about it. By this, the 
humblest task may have an adornment. 

The inferior animals, each after its kind, are 
orderly by instinct, and might instruct the intel- 
ligences put over them in dominion. Inanimate 
nature, close by and all around, teaches those 
who labor in its midst the same lesson. How 
instructive are soil, water, air, heat, and light, 
as they work and build up blooming and fruitful 
vegetation ! The same wisdom comes from the 
far silent heavens : with a power mightier than 
any human speech, they proclaim the necessity 
of system. They show forth the beauty, the 
majesty, the divine perfectness, of order, while 
they declare the glory of God. 



266 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE. 



CONCLUSION. 



Other specific topics belong to the subject of 
these suggestions, and might properly have been 
considered. But this division of the volume has 
been extended much beyond the original design. 
It is hoped that the patience of readers will hold 
out for some closing thoughts, which may still fur- 
ther elucidate and confirm the theory presented. 

It is a well-known fact, that the majority of man- 
kind do not begin to study specifically and minute- 
ly the substances on which they are to operate 
through all their industrial lives, until they get 
into apprenticeship or into actual business. 
Then there must be disadvantage and loss, for a 
time, in proportion to the ignorance. In some 
cases, this ignorance continues quite palpably and 
injuriously through all their vocational course. 
Now, the training which has been indicated is a 
process of fitting one, in a degree, for all sorts of 
business whatever; a process begun with the 
very opening of the eyes and the putting-forth 
of the hand. Indeed, Nature is continually striv- 
ing to educate the perceptive faculties; and 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 267 

would really double and quadruple their develop- 
ment and attainments, if we would let her have 
her own methods, and lend her a helping hand 
amid the multitude of objects which might con- 
fuse the young learner's attention. 

There are certain individuals whose peculiar 
organization will make them sharp-sighted ; will 
place things, and all their qualities, before them 
just as they are, notwithstanding the distracting 
circumstances of number, variety, and even dis- 
order: but these are comparatively few. The 
majority need help and showing, that the most 
may be made of the materials around. This must 
be evident from the exercises in objects and qua- 
lities which have been here proposed ; for how 
few, without advice, would pursue these matters 
in the best way, and to the most profitable extent ! 
Indeed, how has the whole world gone blunder- 
ingly along with the idea, that education consists 
in words, — words wide apart from the things to 
which they belong ! It has scarcely occurred 
to educators generally, that, in presenting things 
to the learner, they must almost necessarily pre- 
sent words — nouns, adjectives, and verbs — which 
would stick to these things like their color in the 
day-time, or as their temperature does both day 
and night. 



268 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 



HOW A GOOD JUDGMENT COMES. 

There is a common saying about certain indi- 
viduals something like this: " He has an excellent 
judgment; he is remarkable for his judgment." 
NoM^, what is meant? It is this: He knows what 
things are in their qualities and relations, and he 
knows what to do with them to the best possible 
advantage. Innumerable instances in the various 
avocations of life might be adduced in illustra- 
tion. How common it is for a citizen to be called 
on to appraise the goods of a neighboring estate, 
or, as a public officer, to make valuations of pro- 
perty for taxes ! In such cases, a practical know- 
ledge of commodities is all-important. We may 
take the most striking and instructive instances 
from these very times. Millions of money are 
lost to the nation through the ignorance of com- 
missaries, quartermasters, contractors, and other 
providers for our armies, through the lack of 
that early and continued education of the observ- 
ing faculties which has now been advised. If 
the loss, for the most part, comes from any other 
cause, it must be from a criminal dishonesty, 
deserving the punishment of a penitentiary from 
a cheated country. 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 269 



VIVID RECOLLECTIONS IMPORTANT. 

Furthermore, a great deal of business is done 
in the way of trade, without the actual presence 
and inspection of the commodity to be bought and 
sold. In this case, much is to be trusted to the 
honesty or honor of the seller. Nevertheless, a 
great deal depends, on both sides, upon the actual 
knowledge of things previously acquired. With- 
out such knowledge, the buyer must take the sell- 
er's word ; and, without this knowledge, the 
seller himself may unintentionally mislead : for 
in both of their memories and conceptions there 
may lie a confused mass of things, designated by 
certain names. As for the absolute qualities, 
fitnesses, and values, it may be the merest guess- 
work with both. Or, if but one of the parties is 
ignorant, he must go by guess, or trust impli- 
citly to the integrity of the other. Now, let a 
thorough acquaintance with objects and their 
qualities be obtained, and there they lie in the 
memory in all distinctness. There is no confu- 
sion. The mind's eye sees similar commodities 
in the distant ship or warehouse, or anywhere 
else, about as clearly as the physical eye would 
see them lying beneath the face. The memory, 
as a general rule, performs its office well or ill, 



270 THE DISCIPLINE OP THE 

just in proportion as the original perceptions are 
disciplined and developed ; so that, in a large 
portion of business transactions, what is good 
judgment depends on distinct and accurate 
recollections. 



DISTINGUISHED MEN. 

The histories of many distinguished persons 
show, that it was a culture quite independent of 
prescribed educational forms which made them 
useful and eminent. Among the extraordinary 
men of our own country are those whose literary 
advantages were exceedingly limited. They sim- 
ply exercised their naked faculties on whatever 
came before them, or lay in any providential line 
of duty. They might have had some one power, 
like individuality or eventuality, in uncommon 
strength. This, spoiitaneously, leading the way, 
might have brought concomitant powers into 
action and increasing ability. All the faculties 
were employed upon the objects, the events, the 
realities of the present world, and state of things ; 
while their privileged contemporaries were en- 
gaged on abstract books and chapters, sentences 
and words. Although these students of real life 
might be quite inaccurate in the nice uses of Ian- 



OBSEEVING FACULTIES. 271 

guage, yet they obtained the weightier matters 
of a useful education. Such men, nevertheless, 
generally possess an adequate ability at expres- 
sion, as far as it is necessary simply to convey 
their own ideas. Indeed, these observers and 
doers often have a remarkable facility of speech. 
This comes from the very nature of their educa- 
tion. They somehow pick up words appropriate 
to all the things, qualities, relations, actions, and 
transactions within their notice ; and those words 
are presented naturally and easily with the sub- 
jects to which they belong. If there should be 
any defect at all, it is that of some little point 
which they might have rectified themselves, as 
many do, by a strenuous and determined self- 
discipline. The strongest men in our nation, the 
centres of momentous circles of afikirs, may be 
excelled by school-girls of fifteen as to verbal 
and grammatical niceties. The ability adequate 
to the Presidency of the nation or to a Cabinet 
secretaryship does not depend on verbalities 
obtained at school or college, but on an acquaint- 
ance with things and actions and principles ; a 
knowledge of individual, social, municipal, civil, 
military, national, and international realities. 
"Washington's success, at the head of armies and 
administrations, was the result of that sound 



272 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 

judgment wliich had been matured amid present 
substances, passing events, and pressing emer- 
gencies. 

BOOKS, NEVERTHELESS. 

Let it not be supposed, by what precedes, that 
an unwarrantable discarding of books is advised. 
It is simply meant that books shall not come into 
use so early, so numerously, and so unintermit- 
tedly, as to stifle and dwarf the faculties instead 
of aiding to strengthen them. The distinguished 
men alluded to improved themselves by reading 
as they had opportunity ; and, in one respect, 
they read with a peculiar advantage. Their pre- 
liminary experience with the world's naked 
realities enabled them to take hold of language 
with a- strong, effective grasp, as if words were 
palpable handles to the meanings underneath. 
They labored, however, under many and great 
disadvantages. Their improvement came with- 
out system, — now and then, ~ here a little, and 
there a little. 

With our present command of means, we our- 
selves should seek for our children that educa- 
tion which begins exactly in the right place and 
at the right time, and which proceeds in the 
best order, and in those directions, and to that 



OBSERYING FACULTIES. 273 

extent, which shall make the largest and fullest 
measure of good. 

Dear fellow-educators! — with what gentle 
touches of nature's elements, as with his own 
tender fingers, does the infinite Parent awaken 
his immortal ofi'spring to consciousness and 
thought ! Why shall we not follow these divine 
intimations ? Be assured that they run, with 
unbroken continuance, into grand rules of de- 
velopment and great infallible signs along the 
way of everlasting progress. 

Leaving much that might well be said, were 
there space, we will now consider the unfolding 
of those afiections, without which the intellect, 
however mighty amid material things, is yet but 
weak and poor, and can never rise to those 
realms where angels teach, and none but the 
loving grow wise. 



18 



274 THE DISCIPLINE OF THE 



A LETTER FROM THE AGENT OF THE MASSA- 
CHUSETTS BOARD OF EDUCATION. 



[After the preceding suggestions were first sent to the press, cir- 
cumstances occasioned a considerable delay in the printing. In the 
mean time, the discipline in view has been fast gaining in public 
favor. I submitted the " Suggestions," as soon as I could, in sheets, 
to the large-minded and efficient State official above mentioned ; and 
I am fortunate in the permission to place his letter here as a most 
seasonable and sufficient indorsement of my own views on the sub- 
ject.] 

Boston, April 28, 1863. 
Kev. Warren Burton. 

My dear Sir, — I am very glad to learn that you 
are about to publish a work for parents, embodying the 
results of your varied experience, wide observation, 
and long study. The portion of this volume which I 
have had the pleasure of reading abounds in wise and 
practical suggestions of great importance. Your hints 
on " Object-teaching" will accomplish much good, if 
they lead parents to the early and proper discipline of 
the observing faculties of their children. So far as 
relates to intellectual training, I heartily concur in the 
sentiment of Ruskin, " The more I think of it, I find 
this conclusion more impressed upon me, that the great- 
est thing a human soul ever does in this world is to 
see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way. 
Hundreds of people can talk, to one who thinks ; but 
thousands can think, to one who can see." 



OBSERVING FACULTIES. 275 

The importance and methods of " Object-teaching" 
have been a frequent topic of my lectures at teachers' 
institutes and normal schools for more than six years. 
The system is gradually working its way into our 
schools, and, when in skilful hands, with the happiest 
results. I have spent several weeks during the last 
year in vilsiting the best " object-schools " in the coun- 
try, especially in New York, Albany, New Britain, 
Conn., Toronto, C.W., and Oswego, N.Y. This sys- 
tem has been more fully and successfully applied in the 
schools of the latter place than anywhere else in this 
country. As a result, the primary schools of Oswego, 
which a few years since were in a low condition, have 
been raised to a degree of excellence, probably not sur- 
passed, if equalled, in this country. I visited all the 
schools of the city, with a single exception, in order to 
observe the working of the system under a great va- 
riety of circumstances, and with all classes of children, 
the rich and the poor, Germans, French, Irish, and 
Scotch, as well as Americans. So celebrated have 
these schools become, that Oswego is now a sort of 
Mecca for educators from nearly all the loyal States. 
During a visit of less than two weeks in that city, I 
observed representatives present from several distant 
States, including teachers, committees, and superin- 
tendents. This, I was told, was but the usual number 
of visitors from abroad. While I should dissent from 
some views and methods there adopted, the system, as 
a whole, is, in my judgment, practical, philosophical, 
and admirably adapted to young children. 

But this drill ought to begin long before the school 



276 THE OBSERVING FACULTIES. 

age. The 'parent should daily give training-lessons in 
common things. I value this book as one designed and 
fitted to make parents " object-teachers ; " to convince 
them that the facts and objects surrounding the child 
in every-day life should be the earliest and most effec- 
tive instruments in developing his powers ; and that 
thus habits of close, accurate, and exhaustive observa- 
tion should be early formed. 

BiRDSEY G. NOKTHROP, 

Agent Mass. Board of Education. 



TOPICS 



OF 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 



NOTE. 



Let it not be understood that the writer thinks this division of 
his volume at all complete. He is aware, that, on the topics here 
considered, more might be said, and certainly a great deal better 
said, than will now be found. There ai-e some kindred points which 
he has not. touched upon at all, or but very briefly. He has fol- 
lowed the course of thought and sentiment which providentially ran 
through his own mind. On some other occasion, perhaps, subjects 
here neglected, or treated but slightly, will receive from him more 
worthy attention. At any rate, if readers will consult other writers 
on education, as they are sincerely besought to do, they will find 
some of the deficiencies of this humble work quite amply supplied. 



THE FIRST KNOWLEDGE OF THE 
CREATOR. 



What is the best method of communicating the 
first ideas and knowledge of the Divine Being to 
a child? 

It requires forethought and wisdom to make 
this communication in a manner worthy of the 
most high, most holy, and most loving Object 
of thought. We know how deep are earliest 
impressions ; how strong and uneradicable are 
the ties of association : how unspeakably impor- 
tant, then, are the associations which should 
surround the first idea of the greatest and best 
of all beings in the mind of a child ! He is to be 
reverenced and loved more than all others ; and 
there should be nothing which could possibly 
detract from the most full and perfect enjoyment 
of this chief, central, supreme Image in the mind. 
Every thing should be in harmony with all the 
perfect attributes of God, as these shall be ra- 
tionally and truly understood in maturer life. 
The associations of the first communication, at a 



280 THE FIRST KNOWLEDGE 

time when these attributes can hardly be appre- 
hended, will go along with the opening under- 
standing and affections, and be connected with 
even the best idea of the Divine that may come 
in to the unfolding capacities. It seems, there- 
fore, that the first knowledge of the Creator 
should be communicated on some chosen occa- 
sion, and by the person who, from relationship 
and loving care, will best represent the divine 
attributes. This person is the parent. 

The first consideration respects that one par- 
ticular name of the several belonging to the 
Infinite One, by which he shall be first desig- 
nated to a child. Were the title. Our Father in 
heaven, or Our heavenly Father, the first to be 
impressed upon the infant memory, it would not, 
at this early age, be associated with the deep 
overflowing love and all the watchful care of the 
parental relation. These qualities would not 
come into view, except with growing experience. 
It seems to me, therefore, that the name God 
should be the first through which the mind should 
have this earliest knowledge. This is the first 
and the oftenest used in the Bible. Indeed, 
in point of time, the Divine Being was God, be- 
fore he was a Father to the child. The relation 
of Father does not exist till the off'spring has 



OF THE CREATOR. 281 

existence ; but from eternity he is the self-exist- 
ent God. This name, therefore, should be the 
first presented, as indicating a Being whom he 
cannot see, but who is the Maker of all he does 
see. It would be a new name to him. It should 
be presented so as to be a most impressive name; 
moreover, one, above all, most pleasant in re- 
membrance. 

The Divine Being is generally first made known 
in connection with some one of his works. " Who 
made it ? " is one of the earliest questionings of 
a child, as if he had an intuitive notion that every 
thing must have a maker. '^ God made it," is an 
answer and a belief written among the earliest 
memories of all the Christian generations. Now, 
what object shall be the first occasion of using 
the holy Name, and of expressing the fact of di- 
vine creation ? It seems to me, it should be the 
most beautiful, majestic, glorious representative 
of God presented by the whole material crea- 
tion, — the sun. Nothing so attracts the infant's 
eye as the light; for the light belongs to the eye, 
and the eye belongs to the light. The very flame 
from the fireside and the candle attracts his gaze 
before he has looked beyond the walls of the 
nursery ; and, at first, more than any thing else 
within them. How, then, must the brightness of 



282 THE FIRST KNOWLEDGE 

the sun fasten his inexperienced attention ! But 
not that of the noonday luminary. These splen- 
dors dazzle away the eye, and prevent calm, 
impressive contemplation. It is the sun, then, in 
its milder glories, not overpowering the vision 
to blindness, but jQlling it with pleasure and admi- 
ration, through which the idea of God should be 
first conveyed. It is through the rising light 
that the idea of the Father of lights should first 
ascend into the souPs firmament, and thence 
illumine all ideas and all knowledge beneath. 

With some special care, almost any child might 
be led to gaze at and admire the morning twi- 
light and the mounting sun. If there is any 
thing in all nature which can fasten his vision in 
the intensest observation, it is this. He may be 
pleased with the tree-blossom, or the flower from 
the garden or field, or any other bright object ; 
he may be amused, may be delighted, with these 
beautiful little things : but it is not with such 
that I would first associate the name of the great 
and glorious God. The first and deepest impres- 
sion of the Almighty Creator should not be with 
what is little and pretty ; which can be held in 
the hand, played with, and picked to pieces by the 
fingers, and destroyed. No ; but carry him, as 
early as he shall be able to individualize the 



OF THE CREATOR. 283 

object, able to separate it from the horizon of 
earth and sky, from contiguous cloud or hill, to 
behold the rising sun. A child is attracted not 
only by form and color, but by motion. Here 
he beholds the most perfect form amid the most 
charming hues, — a glory too mild to dazzle and 
pain the eye ; and this, in grand magnificent 
movement, a double enchantment to the fastened 
gaze. Let this spectacle become a frequent and 
a most desirable pastime to the opening, the ad- 
miring, the wondering little soul. Then, when 
there shall be sufficient maturity, choose the 
most fitting opportunity — one when all the cir- 
cumstances shall be most agreeable and appro- 
priate — to pronounce the adorable Name, to- 
gether Avith one of the greatest facts in creation, 
as a remembrance. " God made the sun." Let 
the child pronounce these words after you : 
" God made the sun." He does not know yet 
who God is. This knowledge will come in due 
time. But the supreme Name is henceforth and 
for ever associated with the most glorious ma- 
terial creation. God made the sun. The first 
eternal truth is written upon an imperishable 
memory. Here begins that instruction in re- 
ligion, in love, in devotion to God, which is to 
consecrate and shed blessed influence upon all 



284 THE FIRST KNOWLEDGE 

other instruction. This is the first opening of 
the soul's temple for the Divinity to be there 
enthroned for worship. Henceforth the name 
God, caught by the infantile ear, will make im- 
pression, and especially if heard in worship. The 
child hitherto, in the family devotions, may have 
been quiet, and as i£ seemingly listening ; but 
the language of the service most probably slipped 
over his ear, dropping nothing into his soul. The 
holy names and titles were to him, perhaps, no 
more than the most insignificant particles of 
speech. But now the name of Him who made 
the great round, bright, beautiful sun, coming 
up in the east, surrounded by charming colors, 
— that name will mean something, will be thought 
of, will be remembered, felt. How reverently, 
then, should it be spoken in the hearing of the 
child I It may be well for him to observe that it 
is pronounced with some nice peculiarity of 
tone, separating it markedly from other words. 
It should not be a tone to touch his spirit 
with any thing like fear, any thing disagreeable, 
or any thing ever afterward to be remembered 
as out of taste, or not accordant with all gentle 
or grand harmonies. Let there be no nasal 
twang, no rougb or peculiarly odd pronunciation ; 
let there be nothing which shall not afterwards 



OF THE CREATOR. 285 

mingle sweetly with the very best melodies of 
memory. Sometimes the speaking of a word, 
with the slightest lowering and softening of the 
voice, is impressive ; far more emphatic, indeed, 
than force or loudness. There may be again the 
least perceptible pause before utterance, so that 
the holy Name shall stand out distinctly from its 
connections more than the other words, and yet 
not to such a degree as to cause any discordant 
and inappropriate hiatus. Certain persons are 
able to express humility, reverence, and love, all 
combined, as they take the divine Name upon 
their lips. This cannot be expected of all, any 
more than that all should sing in perfection ; but 
all who love their children, and feel that they 
have the most sacred of all human duties to 
perform toward them, can strive for the best 
preparation, and can approximate perfection in 
proportion to natural gifts and earnest endeavors. 
There will come in connection those adjunc- 
tive words, signifying the qualities and attributes 
of the Divine ; such as the Almighty, the Most 
High, the Eternal, the Most Holy, Gracious, 
Blessed, together with others. A child cannot 
at first receive the full meaning of these, any 
more than he can take in the full idea of God. 
It is not at all necessary that he should. As his 



286 THE FIRST KNOWLEDGE 

mind opens, they will assume larger and larger 
breadth in it, and deeper and deeper meaning, 
taking hold of the affections. All these epithets 
should be so used as to inspire the sincerest, the 
very best devotion of the soul, the fullest rever- 
ence and love. Almighty and most merciful 
Q-od! — this phrase from the Christian ages often 
makes the commencement of prayer. Infinite 
power, with infinite tenderness, is attributed to 
that one Being who alone can hear and answer 
prayer to the uttermost. How should such an 
expression be consecrated in the memory and 
and the heart of a child ? The same may be said 
of other sacred phrases. 

There are the human appellations of the Deity, 
more home-coming and heart-touching because 
drawn from the analogies of the home and the 
heart, — Our Father in heaven, or Our heavenly 
Father. Some, perhaps, may prefer first to pre- 
sent the idea of the Creator under one of these 
phrases. They give to the child at once the idea 
of love, gentleness, care, and protection, as far 
as the parental title already stands for these qua- 
lities in his apprehension. But, after all, this 
Being is unseen, and can scarcely be compre- 
hended thus early by these tender analogies. 
He is yet a mystery ; and I should prefer to 



OF THE CREATOR. 287 

have him presented first by a new and mysterious 
name, God. The term " father " can be applied 
to many all around, — to the vile, to the worst of 
human beings : that of God belongs to the One. 
That name can never belong to any other. Then 
let that one Name be a central name in the firma- 
ment of the understanding; the greatest, highest, 
holiest, best ; even as that Being must be whom 
it images forth. But the tenderer name of Fa- 
ther, in due time, can be easily associated with 
the Divine. In conversations about the loving 
and beautiful character of God, he can be likened 
to a Father in faithful care and tenderness. 
There can be easily impressed upon the child all 
that is most lovable, and best suited to bring 
out toward the heavenly Parent his tenderest 
aff'ections. His earliest prayer will be that which 
belongs both to infancy and age, and all the life 
between, — the all-comprehending one taught by 
the Lord. Though the word " God " is not 
expressed within its compass, yet the child will 
readily associate our Father with that mysterious 
name which is first and greatest in remem- 
brance. 

Besides the most majestic and appropriate 
illustration of creative power and glory, various 
other objects in nature should be made the me- 



288 THE FIEST KNOWLEDGE 

diums of religious instruction. Perhaps the new 
moon, as it appears after an interval, and which 
is not, like the older moon, a repeated nightly 
spectacle, might to the infant mind be one of the 
best tokens of the Divine Power. The child may 
hardly remember to have seen it the month be- 
fore. There it is, the delicate crescent, a bright 
silvery bow upon the edge of the golden, mellow 
twilight. It is as if it had just been created, and 
placed there by an invisible hand. How it attracts 
and fastens the little wonderer's gaze I Let it be 
said in due time, after the first great impression 
from the monarch luminary, " God made the new 
moon." 

There, too, is the beaming, melting, richly flow- 
ing evening star : let its brightness, its beauty, 
its charmingness, fall into the tender memory 
with the name of God. That is a most touching 
instance of a child's startled apprehension of 
creative power expressed in a sweet little 
poem : — 

" Presently, in the edge of the last tint 
Of sunset, where the blue was melted in 
To the faint golden mellowness, a star 
Stood suddenly. A laugh of wild delight 
Burst from her lips; and, putting up her hands, 
Her simple thought broke out expressively, 
' Father, dear father, God has made a star! ♦ " * 

* See " Sacred Poems," by N. P. Willis. 



OF THE CREATOR. 289 

The whole starry host of the heavens, at a rightly 
chosen occasion, should be made to uplift, to 
solemnize, to fill the little mind with the power, 
majesty, and glory of God. 

But the earth is written all over with lessons 
on the goodness and greatness of the Creator. 
There are the flowers, with their beauty and 
fragrance, whereby to express the blessed name 
and character of God. There are the birds, all 
life, motion, and music, through whom his name 
and his praise may, as it were, be sung to the 
delighted ear. Showers and rainbows; the forth- 
putting verdure and foliage on field and forest 
in the spring, as if an invisible worker every day 
did more and more for the watching eye to ad- 
mire, — these also may lift the thought toward 
God. Little purling brooks, and great sweep- 
ing rivers ; the soft, green hills, and the blue 
and grand mountains ; the dark storm-cloud, the 
swift lightning, and the thunder's marvellous 
voice, — should all be made to tell of God. But, 
if these mightiest exhibitions of nature should 
speak in majesty, they should also be made to 
utter forth the divine benignity and love. 

Few children are permitted to look with their 
early eyes upon the great and grandly impres- 
sive ocean. Let such as are vouchsafed the 

19 



290 TH£ FIRST KNOWLEDGE 

spectacle associate it with Him who holds its 
unsounded depths and sublime boundlessness in 
the hollow of his hand. 

The human being is, in his first consciousness, 
surrounded by the divine works. They are the 
first observed; they give the earliest impressions. 
They should all of them be made to declare the 
existence and character of G-od. But language 
is to be used, and this by the Parent through 
which these works are to address and instruct 
the soul. As early as possible, and as much as 
possible, this language should be that of God's 
holy word. There are passages which beauti- 
fully or grandly set forth the divine attributes. 
The child has already, with his earliest utter- 
ances, consecrated his innocent lips and his 
opening soul with the prayer of the Lord Jesus. 
Let him also commit to memory other precious 
portions of Scripture. Before he shall have 
learned to read, let the instruction, parents, be 
distilled as heavenly dew from your own lips. 
How it will fall upon his soul, and make it mel- 
low and fruitful, even as the paths of God drop 
fatness ! 

The Old Testament, and especially the Psalms 
and the Prophets, abound in allusions to God's 
works and ways, and to his grand, his benignant, 



OF THE CREATOR. 291 

his charming attributes. But it is in the New 
Testament that are found the most inviting 
attractions toward God. There is the dear, first- 
learned prayer. There the Eternal and the Al- 
mighty is more particularly presented as a tender 
Father; and by whom? By Jesus, the Son, — 
the blessed, the beloved, the most gentle and 
compassionate, the most winning being ever seen 
on earth in human form. Now, why shall not 
the child commit to memory numerous passages 
from all these sacred inspirations? With your 
tender invitations, with your sweet encourage- 
ments, with your own song-like lips, how much 
might you lay upon his impressible memory before 
he can even read ? This will shine out with more 
and more meaning as years increase, and will 
send gleam after gleam into his understanding, 
and fervor upon fervor into his heart. Heed not 
those, who, in this case, crj^ out against the use- 
lessness and absurdity of words without know- 
ledge. How many lessons do children study at 
home, overlooked by the parent, how many more 
at school, convej^ing scarcely an idea through 
the hard, unintelligible terms! and yet no objec- 
tion is made, because this is supposed to be edu- 
cation. Is not religion also a matter of education? 
and must its length, breadth, depth, and height 



292 FIRST KNOWLEDGE OF THE CREATOR, 

be the only science which the young intellect is 
required to see through at once, and thoroughly 
to measure from side to side and from foundation 
to .summit ? Let it not be asserted, that these 
instructions from the sacred oracles are pecu- 
liarly darkening or burdening to the young mind, 
when so very much else is imposed, which, in sad 
reality, is dry and hard and dark and burdensome'. 
It will depend much on the manner of communi- 
cation how it shall be received, and what effect 
it shall have ; and, for this, your affection and 
wisdom are responsible. It belongs to you, more 
than to all the rest of the world, to make known^ 
to the little ones waiting at your side, the glory 
of God as declared in the Book of books. 



THE FIRST AND GREAT COMMANDMENT. 



" Thou slialt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." 

With what cumulative and transcendent forc^ of 
language is expressed the first and chief duty 
of man ! The simple meaning doubtless is, that 
he must love the Creator more than any crea- 
ture ; he must love him supremely. To the Lord 
our God, to the Giver of all good, to the Father 
in the highest, belongs the strongest, the warm- 
est, the most continually devoted love which is 
possible to human capacity. 

Of all the commandments of the Most High, 
this is that one which should be most thoroughly 
impressed in the education of the young. The 
inculcation of it belongs to the heads of the family 
above all other teachers, as indeed does all reli- 
gious nurture. But how can parents invite and 
train the child to love God supremely, when they 
do not themselves believe in the reality of the 
literal command, or in the possibility of fulfil- 



294 THE FIRST AND 

ment? Let us now see how the case apparently 
stands with many fathers and mothers of excel- 
lent repute, and who are regular attendants on 
Christian ministrations. If they should divulge 
their secret sentiments, would not the exclama- 
tion of each one be something like this? — ''How 
is it possible to love a Being whom I cannot 
touch, cannot see, cannot hear ; and who is infi- 
nitely, awfully great, to a degree unspeakably 
suiwjassing that with which I love my own near- 
est personal relatives, whom I can see and con- 
verse with, and who draw my heart to them by 
attentions, kindness, and an undoubted love, 
which they bestow on no other beings in the 
world? I can entertain a degree of gratitude 
toward the heavenly Parent ; at certain times, I 
can feel even a warmer glow than this : but to 
love the universal and invisible Spirit above ob- 
jects seemingly nearer and more personal to me; 
above friends, brothers, sisters, parents, children, 
and even wedded partner; in a word, to love him 
more than all these together, as seems to be im- 
plied, — oh ! this is an utter impossibility. It 
must be that the language is extremely figura- 
tive, like much in the Scriptures; and, of course, 
is not to be literally fulfilled." Surely, judging 
from appearances, there prevails this utter un- 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 295 

belief in any positive ability fully to obey this 
great leading law of both the Mosaic and the 
Christian dispensations ; oi', if there is not a cold, 
careless unbelief, there is a palsying despair of 
the duty. There is at least an excessive indif- 
ference to it. In this condition of mind, parents 
cannot possibly train their children up to the 
Scripture requirement of love to God. 

Now, if there could once be a clear under- 
standing and belief of an ability to love the Di- 
vine Being above every other, would not the 
difficulty of doing so grow less and less, and at 
length entirely disappear? Would not parents 
realize, that the greatest possible favor they 
could confer on a beloved child would be the 
development of this affection, which is to become 
the essential life of the whole heart, soul, mind, 
and strength of the man ? 

It is proposed now to meet the case stated by 
showing that we have a capacity to love God to 
the degree expressed in the command ; and 
that the language of Scripture, however strong 
and superlative, is no more than commensurate 
with the ability of fulfilment. We will first, how- 
ever, dispose of a preliminary case. There is a 
very large number of people, taking them as they 
appear in the world around, who seem thus far 



296 THE FIRST AND 

to have experienced no degree of love or grati- 
tude at all toward their Creator. It must be 
difficult for them to realize that they possess 
even the feeblest ability in this direction. They 
are yet to be convinced that they can love the 
Lord their God in the least. We will first meet 
their condition. In doing this, we shall be also 
better prepared to convince and persuade those 
who are partially experienced and are half-way 
believers. 

A little analogical reasoning will conduct to 
the truth wanted. There are certain objects 
around us here, toward which we indulge affec- 
tionate feeling with different degrees of intensity 
and pleasure, according to our nearer or more 
remote relation. We love things inanimate, as 
country, home, and possessions therein. Next, 
we love friends, brothers, sisters, parents, chil- 
dren, wedded companion. The affection toward 
each one of these is different from that toward 
each other, conferring a pleasure of different 
kind and degree. The feeling toward inanimate 
objects is unlike that toward living beings. 
Friendship differs from the domestic loves ; and 
these last are distinct one from another. There 
seems to be an independent mental faculty, 
through which each distinctive sentiment is 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 297 

exercised toward its appropriate object. Each 
is a separate fountain of happiness, set in 
the heart, and open to a perennial flow, if we 
choose to give it tending. But in all reason, in 
all consistency, must not another love be added 
to the list? Can it be, that the infinitely Benefi- 
cent should endow us with capacities to love and 
be happy in each other ; indeed, to be attached 
even to things without life ; and yet leave us 
destitute of a capacity by which to love Him, the 
Author and Giver of all, the souPs own Father 
in the highest, the best of all beings, the love- 
liest of all, and consequently, of all beings, the 
most worthy of love ? Oh, no ! He whose high- 
est attribute, whose innermost nature, is love, 
would certainly crown the series of loves by 
conferring the capacity to love himself, the pri- 
mal source of love, in return. From the analogy 
of the human constitution, therefore, and leaving 
out of sight actual and individual experience, is 
there not the strongest probability that we are 
endowed with a distinct capacity appertaining to 
the Divine Being, whose function it is to enter- 
tain a special and a peculiar love toward him ? 
Yes, we ca7i love him, in some measure at least, 
because we were made to love him, as we love 
our earthly parents, being constituted so as to 



29B THE FIRST AND 

love them in return for tlieir affection toward 
ourselves ; or as, indeed, we love any relative 
with affection answering to affection. Must not 
the mere intellect, which acknowledges a perfect 
Creator, perceive by these analogies, that the 
human creature would hardly be complete with- 
out some sort of capacity to love him? With a 
consistent view of human nature, the man who 
could believe that he had no ability within him 
to love God, must also believe that something 
had been left out in his formation which ought 
to have been put in ; or had been lost out of 
sight, and was worth being sought for until 
found. 

We now come fairly to the all-important ques- 
tion in the present case : To what degree are we 
able to love Grod ? Can we love him with all the 
heart and soul and mind and strength, according 
to the commandment? Can we train our chil- 
dren to this supreme affection? Have parents 
this supposed excuse of inherent inability in 
themselves and their offspring? Let us again 
try analogy. In the several distinct relations of 
life before mentioned, we naturally love the ob- 
ject of each in a degree proportionate to the 
nearness of that object in the series of relation- 
ships. In a well-trained family, the affection 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 299 

between brothers and sisters is stronger than 
that toward companions outside of tlio home. 
The affection of children toward parents is 
strono-er than that toward each other. The love 
of parents toward children has a still stronger 
hold on the heart. The love between parents 
themselves, as husband and wife, if there be^ a 
true marriage, surpasses all other feelings and 
intimacies between fellow-creatures. Thus, as we 
go from the lower to the higher relations, and as 
the connection becomes more close and unbroken 
and indispensably necessary in the constitution 
of things, the more intense is the love. That 
person on earth who is the nearest in relation- 
ship, in place, and in intimacy, has the deepest 
and most thorough hold on our nature. Now, 
apply this rule of order, nearness, and intimacy, 
a step farther. The next higher Being, and the 
last, with whom we are in positive and certain 
relations, is the very Lord God. He is not the 
medium through which body and spirit come, 
but the very source from which they come. He 
is the Framer of the body, and the Father of the 
spirit. His own life and love, wisdom and power, 
are the essential origin of him who here appears 
in his image and likeness. There is no relative 
in the universe so near to man as the eternal 



300 THE FIRST AND 

God. He is, in absolute truth, tlie everlasting 
Father. Beyond all others, therefore, he must 
necessarily be the highest, closest, best object 
of the heart. If, then, the heart shall be con- 
sistent with itself, true to its other relations, 
according to their degrees, it will permit this 
nearest, this first and eternal Relative to possess 
its love to the uttermost. 

Still further : in the domestic relations, we 
ordinarily love, not only in proportion to the 
constitutional nearness of the relative, but also 
according to the opportunities for closeness, fre- 
quency, and continuance of communion. It is not 
necessary to run through these relations again. 
Suffice it to say, that the heavenly Father is not 
only actually nearer than any other being in the 
universe, but he never departs from this near- 
ness if we would but recognize it. He is the 
ever-abiding centre and support of our nature. 
He is the life of our life, the inmost spirit of our 
spirit. Without his immediate and constant pre- 
sence and power, we should fall to pieces as to 
body, and our souls even would be annihilated. 
We can go away from the nearest and dearest 
earthly friend, — the earth's width may be be- 
tween us ; but we cannot go away from God. 
Were all the other inhabitants of the world dead, 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 301 

and myself should survive, one and alone, God 
would be with me, the same as if my whole race 
were still existent. He would necessarily con- 
tinue to be my inmost life, my own personal, 
infinitely loving, heavenly Father. I have, there- 
fore, opportunities to commune with him, such 
as I have with no other being. At all times and 
in all places, he is with me, to be addressed, to 
be realized, as the source of all supply, the 
nearest and dearest of all friends. I have un^ 
ceasingly open access to him ; I have infinite 
opportunity. Why, then, should I not be able 
to love him with all that intensity of feeling 
expressed by the language of Holy Writ ? 

Does not all analogy conduct not only to the 
duty, but to the practicability of the duty, laid 
upon the faculties ? If the divinely authoritative 
Word commands that we must love, an utterance 
from the secret depths of our own souls responds 
that we can love the Lord our God more than all 
beings beside.* 

But let us pursue our analogy one step farther 
still, and we shall arrive at a most important and 
crowning inference. Our best happiness is in 
those loving afiections which we have been tra- 
cing, one above another, in our natures. Spring- 
ing out of each kind of love, there is an enjoyment 



302 THE FIRST AND 

less or more in measure, according to the lower 
or higher character of the particular affection, 
and also according to its weakness or strength, 
or degree of development, in the individual soul. 
Now, we have seen that love toward God ought 
to be and can be the supreme affection ; indeed, 
that no other affection can approach it in inten- 
sity and power. This being so, then high, strong, 
and absolutely supreme must be the happiness 
flowing forth from the full exercise thereof. 
From the inmost,' the mightiest, the sovereign 
love must issue the highest felicity possible to 
a child of God, even a sovereign blessedness. 

If the foregoing course of thought is conclu- 
sive, there must arise to any one seeking his 
best good, and especially to the parental heart 
bound up in dear offspring, this inquiry; viz.. 
By what methods shall be developed this regal 
affection, through which the soul attains to its 
crowning bliss ? If we have any adequate idea 
of the rich, the glorious object* in view, we 
should be a contradiction to ourselves if we did 
not seek the means of attainment. Considering 
how we toil and struggle, and wrest both body 
and soul, for things which are as grains of sand 
to a kingdom's diadem, compared with the in- 
heritance here presented, surely not to be awake 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 303 

to the worth of this pric ^'ess pv^session, and in 
most ardent, , anxious'' inquiry how we shall 
secure it, would - indicate that we are either 
idiotic or insane! '-"I^Tes, here is human nature's 
utmost possible g.ood, — the bhssfulness which 
legitimately and necessarily flows from the in- 
most, the deej)epit, the largest, the most celestial, 
the most nearl'/ divine capacity in our frame. 
The question i^ow is. How shall we open this 
capacity 'at^^i^^^^ ^ blissfulness which more 
than anything ^1?© verifies to man below the 
lofty ejaculation, " In Thy presence is fulness of 
joy • at T-^y right hand there are pleasures 

for everiJQ^w'e " ? 

j\^s fill along, we have found an analogy be- 
tween- ■'^^6 particular religious affection in view 
and ot'^sr affections, shall we not find a still far- 
ther <*nalogy touching those means of develop- 
men.t^'wMch we would now ascertain? Not only 
our > affections, but all the various faculties of our 
nati**^; li'®^6 I'eply ^nd instruct. 

Qiuf powers generally become stronger and 
stitJ*^^^ in proportion to u^. The body and 
lidfli^,^ 'are- made robust and sinewy by ^abor. 
rp^fl^^teljiect is strengthened by exercj se in 
-tudy o^ in practical affairs. The elegant tastes 
^^lQ)j^.nhanced by cultivation. The conscieiice is 



304 THE FIRST AND 

quickened an i^<=-?.arpe^ned by culture and use. 
The social ai.^,^i^ons gro .t3^'|)j; reciprocal and re- 
peated attentions. The d'-fjjjrjestic loves deepen 
by ever-fresh _. iter change a \of tenderness. We 
will illustrate, however^ ,i«fi>,r-^ ^t length by a 
sentiment, which, in this c^»e[,|8 particularly 
appropriate, — that of filial afig^tion. In what 
manner is this excited, and m'4<£e. strong and 
delightful ? Do not our own hftn^-tg. arid expe- 
rience most clearly reply ? ItUi! l»^^.|3ei^g con- 
stantly with parents, by receiviB'g-.i^nremitted 
favors from their hands, by associg-^^pg things 
given and acts done with the tend'^^ness of a 
parent's love ; it is by keeping the hei^trt, as it 
were, open to the reception of that; Daelt -jng ten- 
derness which flows in the tones, streai^^g from 
the eyes, and distils from the whole QOia-ntfevjiance 
of these earliest and best friends, i-?n that* filial 
love grows and is made strong. A goo<J ehi:((i is 
in the constant exercise of filial emotions iiji^ind, 
of course, there cannot but be a propor,tio*r^ate 
development and sweet satisfaction of fher i|lial 
heart. But suppose, if possible, that a aoHy^^er 
receir ing favors from parents, should anost ?'5jften 
asso'- te these favors with their terideiVness ,* 
suppn e that he should not care for theii- ^^^z 
pani If hip ; had as lief they would be ^st*^t af" 



GREAT COMMANDMElsJ. 305 

present : would this son love -y; parents in 
any degree commensurate wi >che affection 
and the favors unceasingly bestr ed upon him ? 
Certainly not. It is by frequent thinking about 
and feeling toward the parental benefactors that 
grateful love glows in the filial heart. 

Finally, none of the faculties of our nature are 
felt, none are a source of enjoyment, till they 
are directed toward their appropriate 'objects, 
and exercised, and are thereby put into process 
of development. Now, let us apply these analo- 
gies to our relation to the heavenly Parent. 
Granting that we possess the strongest native 
capacity to love God, must it not remain in em- 
bryo, and be unfelt like the other affections, till 
it is directed to its proper object, and is exer- 
cised, is put to its intended use? Like them, 
how can it arrive at its fullest felicity without a 
conscious and close intimacy with that Being in 
relation to whom it was especially implanted ? 
Our heavenly Father may bestow on us all we 
possess and enjoy ; on his own part, he may love 
us and pity us to the utmost degree possible to 
his infinite nature : yet, if we think not of him, 
care not for him, hold no special communion 
with him, of course it will be impossibl ' for us 
to love him, and enjoy the blessedness sr 'aging 

20 



306 THE FIRST AND 

from this love. In this case, like all the others, 
there must he use before there can be develop- 
ment and strength, and the consequent delight- 
ful results. 

We have, then, the all-important truth, that it 
is by exercising love toward God that it is 
strengthened into power, so as to become su- 
preme over all the other affections of the soul. 
What, now, are some of the special methods of 
cultivating this holiest and happiest affection 
commanded in the divine Word, and confirmed 
by the very design and structure of man? 

We seek the methods of that blessed work to 
be performed on ourselves and our families. We 
would love the Lord our God with all our heart, 
and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and 
with all our strength. What shall we do? First, 
this object of feeling being ever present in 
the uttermost nearness to our souls, we must 
cherish the consciousness of this fact of nearness 
until his presence shall be as familiar to our 
minds as the presence of parents is familiar to 
children in the native home. How much do re- 
flective and tenderly alfectioned children attri- 
bute to faithful parental care ! It seems the very 
light and warmth and life of the house. In earli- 
est years, they go to sleep at night, and leave this 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 307 

care yet near and watchful. They awake in the 
morning, and it is near and watchful still, as if 
no rest had been taken by it, or had been needed ; 
and it is at work now, as it had been from their 
earliest remembrance, providing for their wants. 
They find themselves every new day encom- 
passed by love and thoughtfulness as by the 
warmth and light. How tenderly they trust and 
love tliis unfailing presence ! Now, just so should 
we train our children and discipline ourselves to 
regard the heavenly Parent's loving care. In 
the first place, he gives us to each other in the 
dear parental and filial ties. Indeed, he has 
distilled from his own bosom into our bosoms 
those sweet mutual affections with which they 
continually overflow. Next, he provides for the 
family wants, through the products of nature and 
the strength of the parental frame, in a manner 
without which we should all utterly perish. 
How much reason, then, have we to feel, to 
trust, to love, to rejoice in this presence, which 
pervades and fills the whole home ; this Provi- 
dence which never sleeps, although all other 
eyes are sealed ; and which never shuts or 
draws back its hand ! 

Again : there are the divine works in nature ; 
those through which sustenance and comfort 



308 THE FIEST AND 

come to the body, through which instruction 
comes to the understanding; those which dis- 
play beauty, grandeur, and sublimity to the 
admiring sense. If the works and gifts of rela- 
tives and friends remind us of their kindness, 
and are ever exciting grateful affections anew, 
what should be the effect of works and gifts like 
these ? The planets fail not to reflect the sun's 
golden beam^ which they cannot help receiving ; 
and why should not we be equally true to that 
" Father of lights," from whom cometh down 
every good and every perfect gift ? 

The devout Catholic makes his prayers one 
after another, according to the beads of his ro- 
sary, and believes himself drawn nearer and 
nearer to his God. To us and our children, cre- 
ation is one boundless rosary, to lead on, and still 
ever to lead on, our hearts in the grateful fervors 
of devotion. Each individual object not only 
reminds of duty, but, by its special formation and 
use, should stir us to new emotions of adoring 
love. It is the rosary of the Church universal, 
and a gift from that common Father with whom 
is no respect of persons. It begins with the 
rocks and jewels of the mine, and is twined 
million-fold through the kingdoms of nature 
near; then it is wreathed in burning constella- 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 309 

tions 'above, and thence runs endlessly on before 
the eye of wondering and worshipping disco- 
very; held fast and for ever by the hand of 
Him of whom it is written, " He telleth the 
number of the stars ; he calleth them all by 
their names." 

In another place, the scriptural presentationfi 
of the works of God are sufiSciently commended 
to the heart and the memory. Here it may be 
useful to add, that the poetry of our native lan- 
guage is rich with allusions to the divine attri- 
butes as manifested in nature. Sacred verse 
especially abounds in such references as incite- 
ments to devotion. The training of the young 
to commit passages of this kind to memory would 
be among the best benefits bestowed by parental 
care. Early and peculiar associations, and an 
abiding influence with which many doubtless 
will sympathize, induce me to place here for 
illustration a well-known hymn of Watts. It is 
one of those w^hich he entitled " Divine Songs, 
attempted in Easy Language for the Use of Chil- 
dren." Indeed, if it is " in easy language," and 
stoops to the simplicity of childhood, there is, 
notwithstanding, no fulness of strength, no great- 
ness of mind, which might not be caught up by 
it, and borne away, as on cherubic wings, to con- 



310 THE FIRST AND 

template the wonders of creation, and thus be 
inspired to sing the power, wisdom, and good- 
ness of the Creator. 

* 

"I sing the almighty power of God, 
That made the mountains rise; 
That spread the flowing seas abroad, 
And built the lofty skies. 

• I sing the Wisdom that ordained 

The sun to rule the day: 
The moon shines full at his command, 
And all the stars obey. 

I sing the goodness of the Lord, 

That filled the earth with food: 
He formed the creatures with his word, 

And then pronounced them good. 

Lord, how thy wonders are displayed. 

Where'er I turn mine eye; 
If I survey the ground I tread, 

Or gaze upon the sky ! 

There's not a plant or flower below 

But makes thy glories known; 
And clouds arise, and tempests blow. 

By order from thy throne. 

Creatures, as numerous as they be, 

Are subject to thy care : 
There's not a place where we can flee, 

But God is present there." 

Besides these inspirations from what is some- 
times called the " elder Scripture," there is an- 
other means of culture, which an illustration 
may possibly present more forcibly to notice. 
Suppose your earthly parent to pen a history of 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 311 

his life, embracing numerous acts of care and 
love for yourself, for brothers and sisters, during 
infancy, back beyond your own recollection ; and 
also recording his various deeds of kindness, his 
admonitions, his hopes, his fears, his many, many 
trials, concerning his family during childhood 
and youth up to maturity. Suppose there to be 
an account, moreover, of his generous exertions 
for many others ; of the part he had taken in 
great enterprises of philanthropy ; of his en- 
deavors in behalf of even the humblest and 
remotest race of men. Besides all these narra- 
tions of facts and circumstances, suppose there 
to be intermingled various precepts of surpass- 
ing wisdom and purity. Still farther : suppose 
there to be interspersed among the pages poetic 
effusions of transcendent beauty, pathos, and 
sublimity ; effusions such as would take hold on 
the heart, and abide in the memory, filling you 
with the deepest sense of a genius consecrated 
to the highest and holiest aims. Now, if a me- 
morial, such as has been imagined, should be left 
to be specially perused by your own eyes, and 
affectionately kept by your own hands, would 
you not prize it above every thing else which 
should come as property from the parental 
ownership? Would you not read it and read it 



312 THE FIRST AND 

over and over again, commit much of it to me- 
mory, get it by heart ? Would a sentence or a 
line in that dear bequest escape your notice ? 
Would you not feel that* your father's spirit 
lived in every word? And in your repeated 
perusals of these writings, and meditations on 
their contents, as some new and precious mean- 
ing should open on your apprehension, would 
not your filial love kindle into renewed fer- 
vency, and perhaps into a livelier glow than 
ever before? * 

Our heavenly Father, through his appointed 
agents, has given such a record concerning him- 
self. The parallel is, of course, not exact; but it 
is sufficiently so for our purpose. The Bible is 
filled with the revelations of his wisdom, with 
the instances of his beneficent affection toward 
his human offspring : its lyric and prophetic 
pages are radiant with emanations from that 
light which is inaccessible and full of glory. 
The whole varied volume, while it is righteous, 
august, awful, in authority and command, is also 
abounding in expressions of loving-kindness, 
tender mercy, unfailing compassion, and long- 
suffering toward erring children. We know the 
sacred contents: they need not be farther de- 
scribed. Now, should you dwell on the varied 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 313 

and wonderful writings, so lay up the rich trea- 
sures in your memory, so absorb their spirit 
into your heart (as you doubtless would in the 
previously imagined case), could it be otherwise 
than that your love toward God would grow pro- 
portionally intense, pervading and blessing your 
soul with a heavenly felicity ? What amazing 
providences from the beginning, onward, all con- 
ducting to one grand result, — the deliverance of 
man from the slavery, degradation, and misery 
of sin ! What heights, what depths, what vast- 
ness of wisdom and love, in the mission of the 
Saviour Son ! And all this for you, your own par- 
ticular self, and for each one of your children, 
as much as for any one that has lived. Oh ! you 
and they could not hold in conception all this, 
could not realize it in heart, over and over, yea, 
continually, as might be done, without a love to 
the Lord God and Father of mercies, compared 
with which your present feeble feelings are as 
our spring's chilled and tardy vegetation com- 
pared with the summer's deep luxuriance of ver- 
dure and flowers. 

Any opening of the soul to God in affection is 
a worship of itself. Every filial emotion toward 
the heavenly Parent, whether expressed or unut- 
tered, and whenever it shall arise, is an approach 



314 THE FIRST AND 

toward him. It is a coming nearer and nearer 
to that conjunction of the finite spirit with the 
Infinite Spirit, in which alone there is perfect 
fruition. But there is a special and all-important 
influence to this end in definite and stated devo- 
tions. Let us now, then, more particularly con- 
sider that increase of loving piety which comes 
from the concentration of heart and soul and 
mind toward God in regularly recurring acts of 
worship. 

It is a law of our nature, that, in relation to 
our friends, the more we express our sincerely 
kind feelings in language, and more especially 
in friendly acts, the more our afi'ection deepens, 
the more fully does it possess the bosom. The 
efibrt of expression concentrates attention on the 
object, for some brief time at least, shutting out 
other things. Now, toward God we can per- 
form no deed of charity ; we can do nothing which 
is of the least benefit to him. With the excep- 
tion of general obedience to his laws, we can 
outwardly manifest our hearts toward him only 
by acts and words of worship. But these acts 
and words are of the utmost importance to our 
spiritual life. In the same manner as expres- 
sions of kindness towards friends deepen that 
friendly love, as before mentioned, so does true 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 315 

worship quicken and deepen those feelings which 
spring from our relation to God. In the per- 
formance of this service, all other subjects being 
shut out from the mind, the religious faculties 
for the time are in earnest, unhindered action. 
They become stronger by the exercise, as any of 
the other faculties become stronger as they are 
put more and more to use. With this view, what 
encouragement to express our child-like love in 
frequent acts of devotion ! 

First, in private prayer. Let every rising day 
excite a lively gratitude to the unslumbering 
Guardian of the night, who has preserved us 
from harm during the senselessness and help- 
lessness of sleep, and who is now the strength 
of the frame for another day's activity. Let a 
Christian poet's fire kindle the heart's earliest 
offering : — 

" To prayer, to prayer! for the morning breaks, 
And earth in her Maker's smile awakes: 
His light is on all, below and above, — 
The light of gladness and life and love. 
Oh ! then, on the breath of this early air 
Send upward the incense of grateful prayer." * 

Again : new and distinct instances of providen- 
tial goodness may occur during the day. Why 

* Henry Ware, jun. 



316 THE FIRST AND 

should not each one elicit silent thanks, if not 
loudly ejaculated words ? Should we not thank 
a fellow-mortal for inferior favors ? We should 
certainly habituate our children to grateful ex- 
pressions for occasional kindnesses of friends : 
why, then, should we not habituate them to a 
fresh renewal of devout gratitude to the all- 
gracious Friend for every new and distinct token 
of his goodness ? ^' Seven times a day do I 
praise thee, because of thy righteous judg- 
ments," saith the Psalmist. 

The season of rest again returning, let there 
be another act of devotion for the mercies of the 
closing day, and for the felt confidence that 
the same omnipotent care will preserve now in 
sleep as in nights before. Let the Christian 
poet before quoted aid into flame our evening 
sacrifice : — 

" To prayer! for the glorious sun is gone, 
And the gathering darkness of night comes on : 
Like a curtain, from God's kind hand it flows 
To shade the couch where his children repose. 
Then kneel while the watcliing stars are bright, 
And give your last thoughts to the Guardian of night." 

There is one simple stanza which has come down 
from generation to generation in the religious 
training of the family. Millions of children 
doubtless have dropped into helpless uncon- 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 317 

sciousness as this passed out of the memory, 
yea, out of the heart over the lips. John 
Quincy Adams avowed in his old age, that this 
little verse, taught him in childhood by his 
tender, faithful mother, had been the prayer 
with which he had fallen to his nightly rest ever 
since. The chief ruler of a great nation could 
not dignify this prayer by the continued use of 
it in his age ; but the use of it dignified him. 
He who humbled himself to be even as a little 
child was certainly exalted by so doing to be a 
shining central example to a whole nation of 
fathers, mothers, and children, through all com- 
ing time."^ 

Next, there is social worship ; first and espe- 
cially, that at the domestic altar. Friends, do 
you really desire for yourselves and your children 
to grow in a beatific love toward God ? If so, 
then, as families, daily unite in a common thanks- 
giving for common favors, and particularly for 
family blessings. Let these clustered hearts thus 
statedly and feelingly express a piou§ gratitude 
that they are bound together in kindred ties, are 
a mutual good, and are enclosed in one dear, de- 
lightful home ; and this service shall certainly 

* " Now I lay me down to sleep," &c. 



318 THE FIRST AND 

nurture that holiest love, which, as itself be- 
comes supreme, shall more and more sanctify and 
enhance all the rest. 

Lastly, there is the public worship of the sab- 
bath. If the previous suggestions have been 
appreciated, it must be perceived that the ser- 
vices of the sanctuary are a farther and all- 
important means for the development of religious 
love. Here, one individual at the pulpit leads 
the thoughts and feelings of the congregation. 
"Whether they follow or not, this common organ 
of utterance proceeds. The more faithful the 
audience is to this guidance, and the more 
effectually adoring love is exercised and deve- 
loped, the more speedily and certainly will that 
sovereign affection be attained, out of which 
is to spring the supreme felicity of the soul. 
Every appropriate word, then, either of hymn 
or prayer, should be heard, and its import felt. 
No expression should be lost to the ear, and no 
meaning to the heart, any more than should be 
lost on the learner of music any note from the 
intent instructor. 

Let the duty be brought more closely home 
by an illustration. Suppose you have a son at 
school. Imagine word to be brought that this 
dear child neglects his lessons, — is an idler. 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 319 

You are surprised, filled with regret, and hasten 
to the remedy. You admonish, and, if need be, 
tearfully beseech him. You make the most 
earnest appeals to his heart not to neglect those 
exercises by which his powers are to be strength- 
ened, and by which he is to be prepared for 
business, for respectability, and for greater en- 
joyment in life. You persevere till he reforms. 
But oh! parent, give heed to the admonition, and 
be meek. How much more neglectful and guilty 
are you, perhaps, than this listless boy, too young 
to appreciate his privileges ! Are not you your- 
self an idler in another school ? And, what is 
more, do you not set a pernicious example to 
your own child, and make him and keep him an 
idler too ? The sanctuary of public worship is 
the great " common school " of the religious af- 
fections. Here is an institution whose builder 
and maker is God ; and his gracious providence 
has brought you thereto. Here Infinite Mercy 
has appointed, that the noblest capacities of the 
soul shall be developed and trained into glorious 
strength, — capacities which most nearly ally us 
to the angels, and, more than all, enable us to hold 
communion with the Eternal and the Most High. 
This seminary especially provides for the cul- 
ture of that loftiest, holiest attribute of the soul, 



320 THE FIRST AND 

— love to God. Here the spirit may drink of the 
deepest, fullest, sweetest fountain of good, even 
"joy in the Holy Ghost." Oh, what is the edu- 
cation of intellect, that it may grasp worldly 
riches, power, or fame, to this education, which, 
in the present life, bestows the soul's crowning 
felicity, and prepares for ecstatic love and bless- 
edness in the life everlasting ! 

"We now come to the last and most effectual 
means of developing the commanded love toward 
the Lord God : it is prayer. In the stated de- 
votional exercises already considered, — those at 
the family altar and in the public sanctuary, — 
this particular blessing, nearness and love to 
God, would, of course, come in with other sub- 
jects of prayer ; but, besides these, the indivi- 
dual soul, feeling its own needs, its own faintings 
and yearnings for the highest good, should alone 
by itself make earnest and continuous entreaty 
for the direct aid of the Holy Spirit toward this 
crowning attainment in the religious life. Truly, 
if assistance in any case is vouchsafed in answer 
to supplication, it. must be to enhance, with an 
endless and boundless increase, that love which 
is the supreme, ineffable delight of the soul, and 
which, more than any one thing else, was the 
Creator's end in making man in his own image 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 321 

and likeness. Of all bestowments, those belong- 
ing to the inner man are especially to be sought 
in prayer, and are most bountifully received in 
answer. Of such favors, nothing can be more 
readily, tenderly, and largely given than that 
most perfect of all the perfect gifts from above, 
— the ability to love the all-gracious Giver him- 
self. What, then, have Christian believers to 
do but to ask and receive, and to teach and 
train their children to ask, so that they may be 
as richly and blessedly answered ? It is indeed 
for the sake of your children, dear friends, that 
the attempt has been made to show through 
analogy the highest human capacity, and to pre- 
sent the various methods of development. It is 
for those you hold dearest that the culture of 
this capacity has been urged on yourselves. 
No one can train another with fullest success to 
love that which he does not himself love. It is 
for this reason, that, in this special topic of re- 
ligious education, your own spiritual improve- 
ment and felicity have been blended with those 
of your children. If you have been addressed 
with more personal directness than may seem 
befitting, if you have been preached to, it was 
in the sincere and deep conviction, that this 
" foolishness of preaching '' to the parent would 

21 



322 THE FIRST AND 

best induce practical and effective wisdom to* 
ward the child. 

In closing, permit one more earnest appeal. 
Oh for the power adequately to set forth the im- 
mensity of blessing to come through entire obe- 
dience to " the first and great commandment " I 
Let all that is beautiful and glorious in creation 
be displayed to the opened and enraptured vision 
of one who had been blind from infancy, let the 
mingled melodies and harmonies of a thousand 
music-choirs steal upon the unstopped ear of 
one born deaf, and the ecstasy of delight would 
but feebly illustrate the deep, the thrilling, the 
ecstatic bliss, the angel-like joy, which comes 
from, which indeed is a portion of, loVe toward 
God. Eange through all the mineral kingdom, 
and find gems such as royal treasures only can 
purchase, and present them to the dazzled vi- 
sion, to the eager acceptance, and you offer 
nothing of such transcendent worth as this affec- 
tional crown of man's whole nature, this more 
than regal glory, this love towards the Infinite 
in love. 

Should you turn your child out among stran- 
gers, should you disinherit him in your will, 
you could not cause him so wide, deep, dark an 
abyss of privation as the withholding the nur- 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 323 

tiire of this greatest and strongest, this sove- 
reign of all the loves. A child cast among 
strangers might find hospitality and friendship, 
and his own hands might earn a support. If 
you cut him off from your estate, he might per- 
haps be saved from indolence and dissipation by 
such loss, and become rich through his own 
suflScient energies. But, ah ! who can open the 
inmost, the deepest, the most hidden capacity of 
his soul, like yourselves ? Cold strangers will 
not do ii. The world does it not. The one 
hour of one day in the week at the Sunday school 
cannot do it as you might, — you, who are with 
him from the first opening of his senses, the 
first thinking of his intellect, the first emotion 
of his heart ; you, whose smile brings his earliest 
smile, whose love wins forth his earliest love. 
Yes, you yourselves have opportunities to show 
him the smile on the countenance of the High- 
est, and the love which lights up that face of 
Glory, such as are vouchsafed to no other beings 
in all the universe beside. 

Why is it, that with such a capacity, with 
such countless incitements to the unfolding, 
there is so little love toward God in the Chris- 
tian world ? It is because the poor child has 
been neglected, and by none comparatively so 



324 THE FIRST AND 

much as by his own father and mother. It is 
because these relatives themselves have been 
neglected by their own parental predecessors. 
Thus the spiritual desolation has come down, 
and still continues, just as intellectual barren- 
ness continues from generation to generation 
where there are no schools or books. Just as 
some neighborhood remains in vulgar ignorance, 
so do thousands of families in our Christian 
civilization remain in irreligiousness, and es- 
pecially without that inmost and best life of 
religion, — love toward God. Just as some 
settlement in the wilderness, or hamlet among 
the difficult hills, has long waited for the en- 
lightened, the progressive, the successful in- 
structor, so has the lineage of the family been 
waiting for that parental teacher and renovator, 
who should inaugurate a new epoch, a new life, 
a new joy, to those of his name. 

Readers, parents, what say you ? Shall '^ the 
first and great commandment," which left the 
Saviour's lips nearly two thousand years ago, 
and has wandered so long amid God's children, 
and found so little obedience, so little know- 
ledge of it, so little faith in it, so little thought 
Qf it, — shall it strike upon your own line, enter 
your own home, and you, like the rest, continue 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 325 

as those " who, seeing, see not ; and, hearing, 
hear not, and neither do understand"? 

Would that these humble arguments and ap- 
peals might induce some to feel for themselves 
and for their children that longing for love 
toward God, that thirst for a union with him 
and blessedness in him, which is as the hart's 
panting for the water-brooks, and which is well 
expressed in the deep pathos of a prayerful 
hymn ! — 

" Oh that my heart were right with Thee, 
And loved Thee with a perfect lovel 
Oh that my Lord would dwell in me, 
And never from his seat remove i 

Father, I dwell in mournful night 
Till thou dost in my heart appear: 
Arise, propitious Sunl and light 
An everlasting morning there- 

Oh! let my prayer acceptance find, 
And bring the mighty blessing down: 
Eyesight impart, for I am blind; 
And seal me thine adopted sou." 



Many readers will not need the analogical 
argument which has been presented. It is 
enough for them that they are commanded in 
the divine TVord to love the Lord their God 
supremely. They have the faith that no duty 



326 THE FIRST AND 

would be there imposed which they are unable 
to fulfily although as yet they have not come up 
to the mark of perfect obedience. Again : they 
aver that the' experiences of thousands of Chris- 
tians bear sufficient witness to the reality of the 
blessedness which comes from love to God. 
" There is no need of tracing analogies/' say 
they; " there is bo need of reasoning : here are 
palpable and incontrovertible facts." But even 
to these readers it may be replied, that the 
preceding course of thought may be of use 
nevertheless. There may come upon them 
dark seasons- of discouragement : even they may 
question whether apparent facts may -not be 
illusions. They may be tempted even to the 
thought, that the Scripture language, in its 
mighty strength, is, after all, but an impres'sive 
figure of speech ; and their own short-comings 
and seeming inability to rise to the height re- 
quired may seem ample confirmation. In the 
state of mind supposed, will any one aver that 
our analogical reasoning will not be of some 
avail in^ sustaining the sinking spirit ? 

Still farther, these friends will occasionally 
meet those who distrust all these avowed expe- 
riences of love, and consequent satisfactions. 
Their objections occupy so large a space before 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 327 

their mental sight, that well-substantiated facts 
are but little seen. How useful, then, to the 
positive believers in the commands and promises 
of the Word may be the analogical argument ! 
Its thread can be shown to the doubter to begin 
in the hidden depths of his oAvn nature, and to 
run thence up to that perfect love which cast- 
eth out fear, and admits only joy and peace. 
All truths are consistent one with another. It 
is the part of wisdom, then, to meet the objector 
on his own ground, with some positive truth 
fairly acknowledged. Thence, if candid, he 
may be led to those higher and more interior 
views, of which, at first, he had no true and 
clear conception. It is hoped, therefore, that 
those who may not need this analogical leading 
to the truth will nevertheless accept it, and 
apply it to use where it may really be wanted. 

And, now, will the friends whose case was 
attempted to be met in the outset permit me to 
address them directly once more ? You have 
seen, how that, in the very structure of your 
mental constitution, there must be the capacity 
to love God, the source of love ; to love him 
more than any other being can be loved, as 
being nearest to the soul, not only in relation- 
ship, but in that position, as it were, which is 



328 THE FIRST AND 

most favorable to the closest and most constant 
intimacy. Why, then, will not your candor, 
with your reason, accept as positive facts the 
avowed experiences so numerously presented in 
the various churches ? There are some, who, 
in their perfect sincerity and unsuspecting sim- 
plicity, express their religious fervors without 
restraint, whether there be few or many to hear. 
It may be in rude outbursts of prayer, in lan- 
guage unreJBned and ungrammatical, or in exult- 
ant song without melody ; but all this is no 
evidence that their experience is not real. The 
jars upon your refinement, the disgusts of your 
taste, should not blind you to a principle and to 
a deep want of your own nature. You have 
but to extend your acquaintance with truly 
Christian people to find many whose hearts fer- 
vently but steadily glow with the greatest love 
possible to the soul, and who possess a peace 
which passeth understanding; but they make 
but little outward demonstration. Perhaps they 
are hardly distinguished from other respectable 
and orderly people, who are altogether below 
their high mark of Christian attainment. With 
them, truly the kingdom of God cometh without 
observation. It comes to them more especially 
unobserved, because there is so much room for 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 329 

it freely to occupy. It is to sucli believers that 
you are invited to look for the best evidences of 
joy in believing. In the inquiry-meeting and 
the conference-room, there are presented every 
week the incidents of religious experience, could 
you be there to hear. The narrators are evi- 
dently sincere. The instability of some of them, 
the returning of some to their past sensual life 
as the swine to her wallowing, is no proof of 
insincerity : it is rather a proof of the strength 
of depraved appetite and passion, and the weak- 
ness of the conscience and the will as to better 
things. Besides those, few or many, who endure 
but for the moment, who blaze suddenly out 
and are as suddenly extinguished, how many 
there are who shine on more and more brightly, 
even toward the settled and perfect day ! 

As an illustration of a religious experience, 
will these friends accept the following trust- 
worthy statement of facts ? The narrator was a 
personal friend of my own, and belonged to one 
of the most liberal Christian denominations. 
His profession was that of the law; and he 
seemed to carry his cool, clear, legal habit of 
intellect into theological inquiry. In some of 
his views he was indeed quite radical ; yet he 
was obliged to acknowledge the evidences of 



330 THE FIRST AND 

his own heart. He was a devoted Sunday-school 
teacher, and gave me the account in the course 
of an incidental conversation appertaining to the 
matters of the school. I may not repeat the ex- 
act language of my friend ; but I give the 
facts correctly, I think, as I recall them to me- 
mory, at the present writing, after an interval of 
many years. 

" Several years ago, the people of the town in 
which I resided were proposing to hold a four- 
days' meeting to produce a revival of religion. 
I thought that this was not the way to obtain 
religion, and I very earnestly opposed the mea- 
sure. I conversed and reasoned with my neigh- 
bors a great deal on the subject. Nevertheless, 
the meetings were held; but I did not attend 
them myself. In the mean time, I still presented 
my views in opposition as I had opportunity. I 
could not, of course, but think a great deal 
about God, my heavenly Father, and of his cha- 
racter; and read my Bible, from which I drew 
my own theology, the same as my neighbors did 
theirs. At length came the sabbath. I did not 
attend meeting, but staid at home alone. My 
thoughts were on the great subject which occu- 
pied the people generally, — God and religion. 
All at once, to my utter astonishment, I was 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 331 

taken with a most extraordinary experience. I 
had a sort of unaccountable influx into my mind 
of love to God. It was a feeling almost ecstatic, 
yet calm and still, but deep. At the same time, 
I felt a peculiar affection toward my neighbors, 
toward everybody. Indeed, I experienced pre- 
cisely what my neighbors were holding their 
four-days^ meeting to obtain. 1 felt what I did 
not believe myself capable of before. It was 
an approach' toward the fulfilment of the com- 
mand, ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 
thy mind, and with all thy strength.' I held no 
more controversy about revivals. I opposed 
them no longer; for I had a revival of my 
own." 

Such is the statement of my own personal 
friend, whom I should no more think to doubt 
than to doubt myself. He made no comments 
on his experience ; he could not himself explain 
it: he simply oflfered it as a spiritual fact. To 
me, however, it shows that an earnest, intense, 
and continuous contemplation of God, the open- 
ing of the soul toward him, without ceasing, 
from day to day, the yearning after him, the 
prayer to him, will accomplish in brief space for 
the adult man or woman, hitherto neglectful, 



332 THE FIRST AND 

that which ought to have been in process 
through long educational years. But from this 
let there be no argument or excuse for neglect. 
How few there are out of the multitude of the 
neglected and tfie neglectful who come at length 
to this blessed recognition of God, of supreme 
love toward him, and of the believer's joy I The 
true doctrine is, to educate the child from the 
beginning into Christian knowledge, faith, hope, 
love, and fruition. In this, the aid bf the Holy 
Spirit is to be distinctly and emphatically recog- 
nized. All the human faculties are of God's 
creating ; and, without the actual presence and 
sustaining power of his influence every moment, 
there would be no body, no mind, no faculties at 
all. Every thing would fall into nothingness. 
In respect to those capacities, however, which 
have immediate relation to spiritual and to hea- 
venly things, it seems to me that there is a 
direct and immediate action of a heavenly in- 
fluence, or of the " Holy Spirit." The truth 
may be illustrated in this way : A child may 
admire a flower or any other charming object, 
and say, " Oh, how beautiful ! how I love it ! " 
while the parent has but a distant and imperfect 
sympathy, although the object may be a gift 
from his own hand. But if that same child shall 



GREAT COMMANDMENT. 333 

express an earnest, deep, and most tender love 
to the parent, and this directly to his listening 
ear, and with a looking-up to his own bending 
countenance, he answers back with an earnest, 
deep, and most tender love in return. He can 
hardly help it. The inmost, the ever-abiding 
law of the spiritual nature is, " Ask, and ye shall 
receive ; seek, and ye shall find." This applies 
to the finite relations, and it equally applies to 
the infinite. Now, the child is not able of him- 
self, without instruction, to feel the afiection 
toward the heavenly Parent. He must know 
him and what he has done, and how good, how 
tenderly kind, he is, before he can love him. 
The fixed conditions of the child's nature must 
be regarded in the higher as well as in the lower 
activities. It is your duty, therefore, parent, to 
assist your child in his religious development as 
you would in the discipline of the other several 
various faculties of his nature. In regard to 
those exercises appertaining to the highest ob- 
ject of affection, there will be at length a con- 
scious meeting of spirit with spirit, of love with 
love. The child's heart will find, as it were, the 
heart of the heavenly Parent, that is, will be 
conscious of his spirit, with an unspeakable joy, 
yet all in perfect accordance with that divine 



334 THE FIRST AND GREAT COMMANDMENT. 

order and harmony which run through the uni- 
verse. When we shall come to understand the 
laws of the spiritual creation as we do those of 
the material, we shall say these things must have 
been thus in the very necessity of things. 

Now, I believe in the influx of the very spirit 
and life of God upon the young soul in its pro- 
cess of religious development. If the child 
shall be shown God's works, such as the sun, 
the stars, and the flowers, and thus be made to 
think lovingly of the greatness and goodness of 
the Maker, there will steal in upon him a secret 
heavenly influence, nurturing his germinant af- 
fections. In the progress of culture, as God's 
works in nature, and ways in providence, shall 
be still further displayed ; and especially as his 
tender compassions in salvation shall be made 
known ; and, still more, as confiding and earnest 
prayer shall become an habitual exercise, — why 
shall not the holy regenerating Spirit descend in 
greater and greater plenteousness, until there 
shall be a growth "unto a perfect man, — unto 
the measure of the stature of the fulness of 
Christ"? 



THE CHILD'S FIRST IDEAS OF JESUS. 



Jesus Christ, next to God the Father, should 
occupy the child's mind more than any other 
being in the reception of religious impressions. 
How important, then, that he should be pre- 
sented in such a manner as not only to affect 
the memory, but to touch the heart I Before the 
child is able to read, he can hear and understand 
about Jesus. Why, parent, should you not 
make it a study to impart to him his first ideas 
of the Saviour, and in such a manner as to be 
engaging, and even delightful, to his little soul ? 
How careful are you to be qualified in every 
thing appertaining to the business by which you 
live, and accumulate wealth ! But is not your 
first business, your highest, your best duty, to 
educate your child, to bring him to God and 
to a heavenly eternity, and this through Jesus 
Christ? How careful are you, mother, about 
household affairs, and especially the comfort of 



336 THE child's first ideas of JESUS. 

your children ! how anxious that they should be 
cleanly and tasteful at the sabbath school and 
the church I But how infinitely above all this is 
your duty to the child's imperishable soul, to 
the understanding that must have truth, to the 
memory that must retain it, to the heart that 
must feel and be moved by its power ! It is for 
you to give the first, deepest, holiest, best ideas 
of him who said, " Suffer the little children to 
come unto me, and forbid them not ; for of such 
is the kingdom of God." This yearning tender- 
ness has flowed from that heart of immeasurable 
love, through the many centuries, a living 
stream ; and now, parent, shall your own heart, 
like a rock in the way, turn it aside from your 
child ? Or, rather, the Lord Jesus Christ from 
the heavens at this very moment sends down 
the holy stream of his grace to these dear sub- 
jects of the kingdom ; but it must first fall into 
your own bosom, there to become a well of liv- 
ing water, and thence to spring up into the life, 
the everlasting life, of your little ones. 

A personal appeal has just been made to the 
mother ; but it can hardly be said which parent 
is most sacredly bound in this momentous charge 
of the earliest Christian instruction. Let both 
be faithful. Sometimes one, sometimes perhaps 



THE child's first IDEAS OF JESUS. 337 

the other, will have better gifts for earliest com- 
munication. Let Providence order which shall 
have the precedence. That same Jesus said, 
" What God hath joined together, let not man 
put asunder." It is worthy of note, that this 
was uttered in connection with the beautiful 
incident of blessing the children, as recorded in 
the Gospel of Mark. So let not those conjoined 
in parentage be put asunder in the training of 
their common offspring, and especially in that 
religious culture, which, above every thing else, . 
is of momentous import to the child. Both, 
therefore, are entreated to make it a special 
study, how to instruct the child in religion, and 
especially how to unfold to him the wonderful 
life, works, and character of Jesus, the Christ. 
If you are of religious habits, your child must 
have heard you read of Jesus Christ in the 
Bible, utter his name in prayer, and speak 
of him in religious conversation. He must, 
therefore, necessarily have some faint idea of a 
person held in reverence and love. Various 
will be the impressions on different minds of 
the same age, according to constitutional capaci- 
ties and idiosyncrasies ; but still, at some parti- 
cular and well-chosen time, you are to impart 
the first specific instruction concerning this 

22 



338 THE child's first ideas of JESUS. 

wonderful being, the Son of the " almighty and 
most merciful God." 

Children are, in general, tenderly and deeply 
interested in infants. Perhaps, therefore, the 
best method of introducing the learner to the 
character of Jesus would be to begin with 
the circumstances of his birth and the condition 
of his infancy. Let the account of Luke make 
the commencement. There are the shepherds, 
keeping watch over their flock by night ; then 
the coming of the angel with his good tidings 
of great joy ; next the sudden presence of the 
heavenly host, and their song of praise and 
glory to God. On how many millions of little 
minds has some Christmas hymn deepened the 
impression of the Gospel-story ! If it could be 
given to the ear also through the attractive 
melody of pious lips, there will be an added 
charm. If possible, then, let the story come, not 
only through rhyme and rhythm to the little 
soul, but also through song ; but, if this cannot 
be done by yourself, you may at least softly, 
sweetly, reverently read the simple narrative in 
the Bible. How glad will the child be, when 
he shall be able himself to read, to find with his 
own eyes, in the book, the very same words 
which he had first heard from the lips of love ! 



THE child's first IDEAS OP JESUS. 339 

Then come the scenes of " the babe lying in 
a manger/' and of the wondering shepherds; 
and, as related in another Gospel, of the star- 
guided and worshipping wise men, and their 
singular gifts. The various incidents, however, 
need not be further indicated. There they are 
on the sacred page, for the little soul to be filled 
with them to the full. 

Wonder is a mental emotion most easily ex- 
cited in a child. He loves to wonder. How, 
then, will the miracles of Jesus lift him up to 
the mysterious, the incomprehensible ; fill him 
with wonder at the same time that they touch 
his heart with gratitude, with love, with a deep 
reverence toward the doer of mighty and 
marvellous works ! A child's sympathy is most 
easily brought out at the sight of human pain 
or any kind of, trouble. How he will weep, how 
he will stretch out his own little hands to help, 
how he will run to and fro to get the assistance 
of others, when there is some sudden exhibi- 
tion of suffering ! Now, take advantage of this 
characteristic. Can you not make the child 
realize the pains, the various sufferings, of those 
miserable human beings Jesus so compassion- 
ately, so tenderly healed? Can you not portray 
to his mind's eye the Divine Healer, self-pos- 



340 THE child's first ideas of JESUS. 

sessed and serene, as knowing what he had 
power to do, and jet, with a countenance of 
melting pity, bending toward the sufferer? then 
how, at a touch of his finger, or a few gentle 
but commanding words, there was instant re- 
storation, — health, strength, rising - up, and 
walking, — as if there had been a creation anew? 
Can you not then make him realize the sudden 
change from utter despair to the intensest joy, 
as manifested by the face glowing and the eye 
glistening with emotions such as had never been 
experienced before, and by the voice tremulous 
and almost inarticulate in its efforts to pour out 
the filled bosom's burden of thankfulness to the 
performer of the wonderful cure ? Can you not 
show to your child also the believing and sym- 
pathizing company of disciples, and, besides 
these, the great multitude of common people, 
astonished and awe-struck, and bursting forth 
in utterances of glory to God? Parent, there 
is no one in the whole compass of time with 
whose image you could so possess your child's 
mind, memory, and heart, as with that of Jesus 
of Nazareth. He transcends all others human 
by his origin, his character, and his works. He 
is separate from all others by the sacred names, 
Son of man, the Christ, the Son of God, Mes- 



THE CHILD^S FIRST IDEAS OF JESUS. 341 

siah, Immanuel, the Redeemer, the Saviour of 
the world, the Lord ; but, furthermore, he is 
lifted high above all mere human nature by a 
mysterious union with the infinite and invisible 
One, — that Father in heaven, of whom you must 
have already spoken to your child. " I am in the 
Father, and the Father in me. He that hath 
seen me hath seen the Father," said Jesus. " In 
him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead 
bodily," wrote the apostle. " I am Alpha and 
Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First 
and the Last," saith the Lord in the Revela- 
tion. 

The evangelical record of this, the ^^ Wonder- 
ful," is the history of histories in the Book of 
books. It begins with infant weakness in hum- 
ble poverty : it ends with the ascending Lord, 
to whom is given, as he declared, " all power in 
heaven and in earth." If any thing that was 
ever told or published should be treated with 
the educator's most studied and wisest skill, 
it is these events and circumstances, handed 
down by the first Christian penmen, and which 
Providence has laid upon parental responsi- 
bility. 

The little human being, to whom all the world 
is new, is of most easy impression. He is in the 



342 THE child's first ideas of JESUS. 

power of his parents as in that of a superior and 
irresistible providence, if they so choose. Why 
shall they not, then, forestall evil with good, 
little things with those which are truly great 
and momentous? Why shall they not make 
Jesus Christ occupy so large a place in the 
opening mind, make his image so beautiful, so 
attractive, so sweetly charming, and so great 
and glorious, that every other one of human 
form shall seem in comparison small, dim, and 
utterly insignificant? 

A few stanzas of a lofty hymn, borne upon the 
strains of a grand old tune, come echoing along 
the chambers of memory from loved voices heard 
in earliest years. Let them have a place here. 
Perhaps they may be caught up anew in many 
homes, and wafted melodiously into opening 
memories there, and go sounding on, calling 
back, ever and anon, the wandering affections to 
their fealty. 

" All hail the great Immanuel's name ! 
Let seraphs prostrate fall : 
Bring forth the royal diadem, 
And crown him Lord of all. 

Let countless angels strike the lyre, 
And low before him fall, 
Who tune to love their holy choir, 
And crown him Lord of all. 



THE child's first IDEAS OP JESUS. 343 

Let every tribe of every tongue, 
All creatures, great and small. 
Loud swell this universal song, 
And crown him Lord of all." * 



* The hymn has been somewhat altered from the original in. the 
course of time, and the improvements (if so they may be called) 
have been adopted here. Opportunity is now taken to say, that 
allusion to any specific doctrine of salvation has been purposely 
avoided. It was thought that the object of this treatise would best 
be answered by general incitements to love and honor God and the 
Son, to which none could object, rather than by any sectarian 
peculiarities. It is supposed, however, that the quotations from 
Scripture, such as here introduced, would be acceptable to all 
denominations, each one making its own interpretation as to the 
pre-eminence signified. 



THE BIBLE. 



Of all the books in the world, that which your 
child should love most is the Bible. He should 
not only reverence it, but he should have for it 
a profound affection. As you would seek the 
best interests of your child, as you would have 
the Rock which is ever higher than he always 
in sight, through all the storms of temptation, 
the mists of false doctrine, and the darkness of 
depravity, take care how you show to him, and 
keep before him from the earliest, the word of 
God. 

There are some observances, in regard to the 
mere keeping of the Book, which might have a 
salutary effect on the mind. The large family 
Bible should be kept in some particular place 
assigned: it should never lie carelessly about 
here or there in the dust, like any other ordinary 
publication of the passing times. I would even 
here have a case or cabinet made for it pur- 
posely, — a tabernacle you may call it, if you so 



THE BIBLE. 345 

please, — with glass in the door, through which 
the volume could be seen, separate from all 
other volumes. This tabernacle should be placed 
in the family-room, where it could be looked up 
to with reverence, even as the Israelites looked 
toward the tabernacle within which abode the 
Shechinah of Jehovah. From this, every morn- 
ing and evening, the Word should be taken and 
read by the father-priest amid the assemblage 
of his beloved. Then prayers should be made 
as if inspiration, winging the soul upward, had 
been caught from its sacred pages. Let each 
child have a care that his own Bible (for he 
should have one), appropriated to his private 
use, shall be kept with the utmost regard to 
neatness. Let the sacred volume be always 
spoken of with respect ; yes, with reverence. 

Never associate with any passage of the holy 
Word any ludicrous incident. Never suffer, if 
you can possibly help it, any person, no matter 
how old in years or high in position, to narrate 
a laughable mistake or blunder made by some 
one in reading the Bible. Such an anecdote, 
once falling upon the receptive mind of a child, 
• will hardly be cleansed out of memory in this 
life : it may not be in the life to come. He who 
thus defiles a child's memory, commits an abomi- 



346 THE BIBLE. 

nation in the holiest temple of religion upon 
earth; even in that soul whose builder and maker 
is God. For myself, I should rather have the 
adornments of my house defaced, my windows 
broken, my very garments wrested from my 
children's backs by ruflSans, than to have a cour- 
teous friend, in the agreeable interchanges of 
conversation, associate, as I have known it hap- 
pen, the ludicrous and the laughable with God's 
holy and eternal truth. 

We now return to the question. How shall the 
child be made to love the Bible ? There will be 
a constitutional dilOference between one child and 
another which may help or hinder an interest. 
There are children who will love to read, or 
hear you read, those mysterious things which 
even you yourself do not understand. There are 
those who will read the wonderful Apocalypse 
with a deep fascination. The majority, however, 
probably, would not thus be interested. You 
must find out what the peculiar taste is, and the 
accessible point. Children delight in narrative : 
read to them an account of the miracles of Jesus, 
also the parables. Read the story of Joseph, 
and other touching things in the Old Testament.- 
Read whatever they love to hear about. Do not 
read a great deal at a time. It is better that 



THE BIBLE. 347 

your exercise should stop before the interest at 
all subsides, than continue beyond it. As you 
proceed, make explanations. If your heart is in 
the work of your child's education, you will find 
yourself able to do this, and you will grow in 
ability. Be careful that your child shall remem- 
ber no Severe language or harsh disposition of 
your own in connection with your Bible-read- 
ing. When he shall think of the Bible, let it be 
mostly as of the heavenly Father, and the loving 
Jesus, and the beautiful angels, and of good men; 
or, if he must think of bad men, let it be as of 
those whom the loving Father and the blessed 
influences of the blessed Book would have made 
better. If you shall be judicious, you can in- 
duce him to commit to memory, in the course of 
years, a large portion of the sacred writings, 
without the feeling of an unpleasant task. Some 
of the beautiful narratives in the Gospels, also 
the parables, and very many of the precepts, 
might be stored up in mind. Indeed, the whole 
Sermon on the Mount might be thus treasured 
up. The Psalms particularly, or selections there- 
from, and also from the Prophets, might be com- 
mitted to memory, especially such portions as 
are adapted to be chanted in religious worship. 
If there is any one thing which is now wanted 



348 THE BIBLE. 

as a new feature in religious education, it is the 
training of children to chant the holy Word. 
Let the older members of the family learn to 
chant. Those yet quite too young to do it can 
sing in the spirit ; and perhaps their own little 
voices will drop into the broad stream of melo- 
dies as they find the Word thus sweetly falling 
on their ear from other lips. Could the sacred 
language float to their hearing at church from 
the choir and the congregation, how easily could 
they then be led to commit to memory the words 
wliich had been made charmingly melodious 1 
Some very strenuously object to children's learn- 
ing by rote what they do not understand. Hence 
they would have only those simple and practical 
precepts committed to memory which shall be 
at the time altogether intelligible. But the 
Sacred Scriptures, in their origin, import, and 
use, can bear no comparison with school text- 
books, in which dry terms and rules are gene- 
rally so distasteful. These mainly have to do 
with the bare intellect. The Scriptures concern 
not so much the head as the heart. At first, 
indeed, the intellect merely may be engaged in 
memorizing, because the understanding is not 
yet able to present the selected passages to the 
afi'ections ; but, even in these cases, the parental 



THE BIBLE. 349 

givers and hearers of the lesson may distil their 
own hearts like dew upon it, thus making it of 
easy and sweet acceptance. They can tell the 
learner of its hidden riches, which shall come 
forth to sight at a maturer age as come the 
green blades and the grain from seed buried in 
the soft mould of the ground. 

Some of the Bible names, though not at first 
signifying much to the young mind, still have 
a beauty about them, which will make them a 
blessing to the memory, without any burden. 
This is peculiarly true of a few geographical 
names ; such as Judaea, Jerusalem, Zion, Bethle- 
hem, Sharon, Hermon, Tabor, Carmel, Lebanon, 
and others. There is melody in the very sound. 
How many of these names are woven into spi- 
ritual song, to charm the sense, if not to soften 
or uplift the spirit ! But it is supposed that 
these Scripture names have a specific meaning, 
which made them peculiarly appropriate in their 
first application to objects. Could these pristine 
significations be found, as at some future period 
they may be, how then would these beautiful 
words, and indeed many other names of holy 
writ, open like a rich fruitage from those re- 
ceptacles of memory where they have been 
dropped ! 



350 THE BIBLE. 

I believe myself that in the Sacred Scriptures 
is the inspiration of God, and that the very 
angels draw near as it is read, and especially as 
it is read by children. Their evil affections are 
less developed than those of adults ; they are yet 
in comparative innocency ; so that the good an- 
gels can come nearer, or rather angels have not 
yet been discouraged, and compelled to go 
aWay. 

Children now are trained from their earliest 
ability of voice and tune to sing and perform 
hymns adapted to their age. Soon they are able 
to join in the congregational singing at church. 
Indeed, a large portion of the hymns sung in 
ordinary worship are intelligible to children, so 
that they can sing with the spirit and under- 
standing also. Why shall they not also be 
taught to chant the inspired Word ? With this 
engaging accompaniment, how easily would they 
commit to memory devotional parts of the Psalms 
and the Prophets ! These would be a richer 
treasure to their memories than volumes of the 
profane poetry of the world. There is no ob- 
jection to reading, and committing to memory, 
the pure productions of genius, whether of prose 
or poetry ; but, beside all these, like the vital 
fluid in the body, or a finer essence within this, 



THE BIBLE. 351 

there should be the divine Word in memory and 
heart. Its truths should be the vitalizing es- 
sence of all other knowledge and literature. 
Those not experienced have no possible concep- 
tion of the spiritual, living influences from the 
word of God. 

One reason why parents set so little value on 
the Scriptures, for themselves and their children, 
is because they have no conception of the virtue, 
the power, which go forth from them. They 
look upon them as they look upon other writ- 
ings, estimating them according to their notions 
of external and artistic beauty, or the evidences 
of their historic authenticity and genuineness. 
They have no idea of the living spirit which 
ever abides with and moves these cloudy and 
multiform chariots of language. A fact will 
best illustrate the sweet, the heavenly influences 
of the Word. One well known to the writer, 
between whose home and whose business lay a 
tract of naked ground, rough and unsightly, 
together with streets occupied by the uncleanly 
abodes of a foreign population, their untidy 
children prominent and noisy along the thresh- 
olds, adopted the following method of using the 
time of his daily travel to his employment. He 
copied upon little cards portions of the Psalms 



352 THE BIBLE. 

and Propliets. These lie committed to memory 
on his way. He avers that the unsightly things 
which before pained his eye as he passed, were 
now, as it were, shut out of sight ; and the dis- 
tance was hardly thought of. His feet seemed 
almost to be lifted up, and wings given to his 
body, as he now went to his day's duties. It 
was the sweet, delicious influence from the Word 
that lifted him up and bore him along. He 
walked through heavenly scenes now, rather 
than along the rude, disorderly, disagreeable 
ways of ignorance, poverty, and sin. This fact 
will illustrate the power that may be exercised 
by God's word through all the hard, rough pas- 
sages of human life. It is for you, parents, to 
say whether your children shall have such com- 
fort, such consolation, such inspiration, or not. 
Indeed, however easy may be their lot, however * 
calm their life's journey, passages from the Word 
treasured in memory will be lights along the 
way to cheer and bless ; clear shinings, such as 
cannot be estimated by those who themselves 
have had no experience. 

There are many lonely hours which can be 
alleviated by no human companionship, when no 
book is at hand, and when outward objects have 
no interest to the eye. At these times, if the 



THE BIBLE. 353 

memory shall be well stored with the riches of 
knowledge, there will be resources which out- 
ward circumstances, unless they shall be quite 
painful, cannot diminish or dim. Many a wake- 
ful hour on the bed at night might be made 
devout with worship, and bring the angels sweet- 
ly into fellowship, by the perusal of Psalm or 
Gospel written on the memory. Sleep might 
come, and catch the spirit from the midst of holy 
writ, and bear it in vision to angelic scenes and 
to heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Such things 
have been, and they may always be, under simi- 
lar blessed conditions. But in the season of sick- 
ness, the body prostrate, the hands strengthless, 
and the eye failing, then how might the trea- 
sured Word flow like a river of life from the 
memory out into the heart, bearing a refresh- 
ment and a dewy peace, compared with which 
all the geniuses and literatures of the world 
•would be but as a parching drought ! 

There may be passages from the beautiful 
literature of one's own language or the ancient 
classics, which the mind may run over in these 
hours, and bring up freshly to view ; but all 
such choice selections meet the mind's eye 
generally with the effect to present external 
beauty, artistic excellence. They are gazed 

23 



354 THE BIBLE. 

upon, as it were, like a picture, a statue, fair 
and perfect, but, comparatively at least, cold 
and lifeless. They afford but little life, power, 
efficiency, to the soul. Indeed, how few there 
are, even of those liberally educated or highly 
cultivated, who resort systematically to historic, 
poetic, and classic remembrances to relieve the 
tedium of lonely hours ! How different it is, or 
might be, with the treasuring-up of God's va- 
rious Word in the memory ! In the first place, 
the Scripture itself makes it a duty to think of 
God ; to have him in mind before all other beings. 
In the next place, this very Scripture, rightly 
understood, will show that this having God in 
mind, this consciousness of him, will be the 
source of the highest possible felicity to the 
soul. Next, the very Word itself will be 
the very best possible medium of receiving the 
idea of God, and of being filled with a full con- 
sciousness of his character, and with a love for" 
him as a Father, as the most tenderly loving 
being in the universe ; and, finally, there will 
come with this Word, as it is committed to me- 
mory, a sweet influence, a delicious influx, from 
God himself or the Holy Spirit, which none but 
those who have experienced can know. 

As early as good judgment will allow, and 



THE BIBLE. 355 

continuously, let your child's memory be stored 
with these riches, which never take wings ex- 
cept to bear their possessor heavenward, and 
which no man, nor all the world together, can 
take away. Although he may be learned in all 
the lore of many nations and ages, and though 
all the sciences of nature shall be as familiar to 
him as the alphabet, yet, on the bed of mortal 
sickness and at the dying hour, passages from 
the Book of books will take precedence of every 
thing else. The incitements to trust, the con- 
firmations of faith, the promises to hope, pre- 
sented by the inspired Word, will be worth 
all the libraries and memorized learning of the 
world. How many of the earth's mightiest in 
wealth, learning, intellect, and genius, have at 
last been glad to repose the spirit on some of 
the Psalms, as the wasted and sore frame might 
repose on the couch and pillow made soft and 
easy by the hands of affection ! How have they 
come down from the world's pride to sit at the 
feet of Jesus in the Gospels, in the utmost hum- 
bleness and docility ; indeed, to cast themselves 
upon his bosom like little children on a parent's 
breast, believing this to be the safest place for 
refuge and peace I 



NOTES. 



I. 

It was the author's purpose to add a section on the culture of 
the Conscience ; but the space left was found quite too limited for 
the largeness and importance of the topic. This point of discipline 
has been so egregiously neglected, and the consequences have been 
so enormously destructive, that a considerable treatise, instead of a 
few pages, seemed requisite to do it justice. In fact, in the effort to 
prepare the article intended, the subject assumed such magnitude, 
it ran out into so numerous ramifications, and brought to view such 
a multitude of illustrative incidents, that the worker was over- 
whelmed with his materials, and knew not what best to select to 
make the necessary abbreviation. Friendly readers are therefore 
besought patiently to wait for a much better service than could be 
performed at the close of a volume already quite too large for con- 
venience in these crowded times. It is proposed. Providence favor- 
ing, to present at a future opportunity, in a separate work, some 
suggestions on Right and Wrong, and the education of that vice- 
gerent of God, and sovereign on the soul's judgment-seat, — the 
Conscience. 

n. 

In a note at the bottom of page 17, it is intimated that something 
would be said about meetings for educational discussion which have 
been held in various parts of the country. After that note was 
printed, the plan of the work was considerably changed, so that an 
account of the meetings referred to was necessarily excluded. Their 
practicability and valuable use will be considered at some future 
time, if the author shall be permitted to carry out his plans of pub- 
lication. He would take this opportunity to make known, that he 
has a large quantity of educational matter on hand, — the accumu- 
lation of many years, — which he hopes to present eventually for 
public use. 



^ 



INDEX. 



Pape. 

Action, attractive to infant curiosity 215 

Adulteration of goods remedied by education 150 

Advantage of good judgment as to size 160 

Agricultural lessons 228 

Ambition and demagogism, how sometimes originated ... 82 

Amusing the baby 75 

An abuse of nature 140 

Analogical argument, the use of an 325-7 

Analogical reasoning about love to God 296 

Anecdotes and incidents in illustration, 18, 29, 31, 35, 38, 47, 49, 58, 

86, 87, 90, 94, 100, 101, 107, 111, 118, 164, 167, 173, 180, 330, 351 

Animals, knowledge of 175 

Apparel of children, abuse and use of 87 

Appeal to the parent to study how to teach 335 

Arithmetic, where and how it should begin 196 

Bad companions, how to keep children from 120 

Beating down prices before children 98 

Beginning of intellectual development 135 

Benevolence and true usefulness, how taught 103 

Best end of the bargain, the worst end 98 

Bible, child's love and reverence for the 344 

Birds, as objects of interest and study 175 

Blessedness of love toward God 322 

Bodily health cared for, moral health neglected 20 

Books on family education, what booksellers say of ... . 16 



:360 INDEX. 



Books, use of 272 

Books explaining nature, mentioned in a foot-note 182 

Boxes and shelves in the schoolroom, for a new use .... 142 

Brain, care of the health of 76 

Business-men, the way they learn arithmetic 210 

Ca4)inet of minerals begun by a child 174 

Capacity to love God to the degree expressed in the command, 

analogically presented 295 

Care over household things, how taught 200 

Care over domestic animals 202 

Care of infancy and childhood considered a petty business . . 21 

Casual events, notice of 233 

Catalogue of petty parental inflictions 50 

Causality and its questions 179 

Chanting the Holy Word 350 

Cheapening an almanac, amusing instance of 100 

Chief purpose of this world 3 

Child-traveller after curiosities 152 

Child keeping playthings and clothes in order 259 

Children's interest in the miracles 339 

Christmas-hymns 338 

Ciphering Avith real profit at home 211 

City young man and the country preacher 87 

Clergyman's children 130 

Closet-scene, mother and child 48 

Clouds, a school-boy's philosophy about 180 

Color, faculty of, how cultivated 163 

Color-game 164 

Commandment, the first and great . . •. 293 

Commandment, the first and great, disbelief in the literal truth 

of the language of 293 

Committing the Scriptures to memory 292 

Commodities at home, education in 148 

Compass, the use of, in education 189 

Companionship, bad, how avoided 120 

Concentration, power of, improved 207 

Conscience, first dawning of 36 

Conscience, discipline of 244 

Contrast in a child's possibilities " 3 



INDEX. 861 

Page. 

Convention for horses and poultry 17 

Corn, beans, and peas, as exercises in counting 206 

Counting-game 198 

Creator, first knowledge of 279 

Dangerous exposure of the young 19 

Dangers of modern society 19 

Deceit and double-dealing of both children and parents . . . 102 

Defect in personal soundness and beauty, care against ... 18 

Degree in which we can love God 298 

Democracy in the family 39 

Dendrology learned incidentally 206 

Differences between one person and another in noticing inci- 
dents 216 

Discipline, penal, various mild forms of 51 

Discipline, how it may begin 225 

Discipline of the time-piece 253 

Dissipation of a little child 81 

Dissipation of youth in cities, how occasioned 85 

Distances, learning how to measure 190 

Distinguished mineralogist, how he first became interested in 

his science 173 

Distinguished men 270 

Duplicity and deceit in bargains 97 

Earliest object of a child's notice 163 

Early moral symptoms fearfully premonitory 22 

Early attention to the time-faculty 252 

Eating, excessive, destructive effects of, on children .... 82 

Economy and saving, practical teaching of 146 

Economical idea 200 

Education by parents, estimation of, compared with other 

interests 15 

English nobility, their children's food 83 

Entomology for the young 177 

Errand-doing on all-fours 103 

Eventuality, power of 215 

Evil, the child's capabilities of 4 

Evils of society traceable to parental neglect 13 

Example of a distinguished parental educator 33 



INDEX. ^^^^^ 

Page. 

Faculty of individuality, what it is, and liow cultivated ... 155 

Falsehoods, people inured to them, and submit 222 

Family government, some have a natural gift for 37 

Family ciphering " 211 

Father taking pastime with his children 230 

Father and mother conjoined in religious teaching 337 

Fictitious literature improved 237 

Fire at night, readiness to escape 260 

Firmness, culpable lack of, in the parent 40 

Firmness with mildness will be respected, and will prevail . . 52 

Fishes aflPording mental nutriment 178 

Florence Nightingale, her philanthropy 69 

Flowers 166 

Food, philosophy of 79 

Foreigners shocked at the irreverence and unruliness of our 

youth 38 

Form, fticulty of, and its culture 158 

Fourth of July celebrated at home 122 

Francis, the idiot 107 

Gatherings for slxij thing but home-education 16 

Geography, where and how the study of, should begin ... 185 

Gifts, as tokens for aflection 117 

God's provision for the child's safety and culture ..... 7 

God, his chai-acter .^ 65, 67 

God, name of 280 

God, name of — manner of speaking it 284 

God, qualities and attributes of 285 

God as a Father 286 

God as seen in various objects of Nature 289 

Gossip, together with imagination, its harmfulness 221 

Government, grounds of parental 27 

Government, first occasion for 27 

Grains, observation of 167 

Grandmother, the excuse of a, for her daughter 44 

Help of boys and girls in a family 104 

Henry Ware, jun., extracts from his hymn on prayer . 315, 316 

Hiring children to obey 45 

History of the divine dealings 310 



INDEX. 363 

Page. 

Holy Spirit aiding religious love 332 

Holj' Spirit, difterent operations of 328 

Holy Spirit, interesting case of individual experience . . . 329 

Home, how a new, may be considered 11 

Honor and honesty 101 

Honorable, a singular use of the title 101 

Household lessons in eventuality 226 

How not to get lost 188 

Hymn from Dr. Watts 310 

Idle young men and young women 105 

Infantile impulses 28 

Infantile activity 150 

Ignorance of the names and natures of trees 169 

Individualizing faculty impi'oved by counting objects . . . 207 

Individualizing I55 

Industrial efforts of a little child 139 

Insight into various trades and pursuits 229 

Insect curiosities 176 

Instance of a child's keen observation 169 

Instinct of the brute parent never abused 40 

Instinctive human parental love, use and abuse of 40 

Instinctive observation in a child 232 

Intellect, premature awakening of 73 

Intellect, disproportionate strength and activity of 75 

Inventories and appraisals of propertj^; to make them, how 

taught 204 

Irish woman's terrible threat to her child 49 

Irreverence, growing, among the young 38 

Jesus, the child's first idea of 335 

John Quincy Adams, his going-to-sleep verse 317 

Judgment as to the quantities of things, how improved . . . 199 

Judgment, how a good, comes 268 

Knowledge, how a child gets much of, without books .... 137 

Knowledge of wood and timber important, and how obtained . 171 

Language of the Scriptures, influence of, in the child's me- 
mory 290 



364 INDEX. T^^^Mi 

Page. 

Lawrence, Amos, his love of doing good 68 

Leaves, different kinds of 170 

Letter, Rev. Mr. Northrop's, on object-teaching 274 

Lies and scandals, how they may originate and grow .... 220 

Literature in certain emergencies 353 

Little girl helping her mother in a peculiar way . . . . . 164 
Living creatures compared with pictures, as objects of interest 

to children 175 

Lofty hymn and grand old tune, their power 342 

Loss and gain 146 

Love and labor for others, genuine happiness of . ..... 65 

Love to the neighbor, philosophy of 69 

Love to God, means of development of 302 

Man, his capabilities and possibilities 3 

Manufacturing lessons 228 

Maps, what the mind's eye should see on them 195 

Maternal associations (foot-note) 17 

Maternal self-possession illustrated 125 

Meal-time punishment 129 

Measuring implements for children 159 

Measuring time by the sun 253 

Melody of some Bible-names 349 

Memorial of the heavenly Father 312 

Mental hospitality 131 

Microscope for family use 177 

Minerals, children's knowledge of 172 

Minute traits of a landscape to be observed 186 

Mischief, the child's work; use of it 29 

Missionaries, where they should begin 110 

Money, early love and abuse of 93 

Moon and stars, medium of religious instruction 228 

Mother's blessedness in her babe 67 

Mother's toil for the child's pleasure 42 

Nation, present state of our, and why so 242 

Nature's works and ways to be noticed 231 

Neatness, personal 262 

Neglect of parental preparation for the child's training ... 12 

New intellectual discipline 223 



INDEX. 365 

Page. 

News of all sorts, craving appetite for; its effect 239 

New-Testament attractions 291 

No and yes of the weak parent 40 

Nothing to do as a punishment 52 

Number of criminals in the United States . . 14 

Number, the relation of, considered 196 

Object-game 156 

Object-teaching, letter from the Agent of the Massachusetts 

Board of Education 274 

Obligation, peculiar, of parents for their children's spiritual 

welfare 323 

Observing fiiculties, hints toward the early culture of ... . 150 

Observation, actual, practical advantage of 194 

Observing power, difterences in the 216 

Old people's facetious complaint 39 

Old merchant busy still 106 

Order, special faculty of 256 

Order, how to discipline it 258 

Order in household matters 261 

Order in boys 262 

Our Father in heaven as a title of the Creator 286 

Out-doors •. • • 202 

Parents may get learning from little children 154 

Parents' opportunity for training the child to love God . . . 323 

Parents both united in the religious training of their child . . 336 

Parentage, solemn responsibility of 7 

Partisan calumnies checked by what means 241 

Pattern mother's weakness 47 

Perceptive faculties, general remarks on 266 

Persian bishop's remark to a young lady 38 

Persevere till you subdue an offender 52 

Phenomena of Nature instructive to children ....... 179 

Philanthropic little boys Ill 

Picture of neglected morals 13 

Pictures of animals delightful to infants ....*... 175 

Place, or geography at home 185 

Playthings and clothes, care of 259 

Poetry, religious 309 



366 INDEX. 

Page. 

Points of the compass to be learned 188 

Poor imposed on in trade — new remedy for it 145 

Prayer, private 315 

Prayer for ability to love God . . . • 320 

Prayerful hymn 326 

Prevalent ignorance about natural phenomena 180 

Pride of position at school 89 

Primary selfishness . 71 

Promptitude, disastrous lack of 251 

Providential pre-arrangement for parental government ... 35 

Public movements and spectacles 235 

Punctuality as to promises 250 

Punishment, corporal ■ 50 

Psalms and Prophets, their allusions to God's works and ways . 290 

Eat and mouse made something of * 176 

Reading, its multifariousness 15 

Reason why not always to be given . 35 

Recollections, vivid ones important . 269 

Record of failings and amendments, its peculiar advantage . . 53 

Reform in newspapers 240 

Relation of the earthly parent to the heavenly Parent ... 65 

Religious relations of the parent to the child 55 

Religious faculties must be used to be developed 305 

Religious remembrances, interesting case of 58 

Religious experiences 328 

Remarkable instance of a mother's influence 58 

Republic, a monarchy the foundation of a 40 

Resort of earth's mightiest at last 353 

Resource for the lonely night-watches 353 

Rocks, peculiar and beautiful objects of nature 173 

Rosary of the Church universal 308 

Rules overruled in parental weakness, — consequences ... 30 

Russian czars, the children of, as to luxuries 84 

Sabbath- worship, fidelity in performing 318 

Sacred writings committed to memory 347 

Sailors' power of sight 157 

Sanctuary, the " common school " of religion 319 

Scales for children's use 162 



index: • 367 

Page. 

School-girl's amusing notion about clouds and rain .... 180 

Schooling which is profitable 142 

Seeing things and actions, and describing them just as they are 223 

Selfishness, how children are ti-ained to 70 

Selfishness, education a cause of 92 

Self-love, how strengthened from the beginning 72 

Setting the table, occasion of a lesson 226 

Shells, what might be done with, on a winter's day .... 178 

Showing off a child's learning 92 

Sick little boy, the beautiful play of 113 

Sickness, how solaced and refreshed 363 

Sister at baby-tending endangered 78 

Singular birthday present from a child 1T8 

Size, fiiculty of, how cultivated 159 

Snakes and worms, scientifically reputable 176 

Spoiled child, what he does 42. 

Stage-coach ride with a school-girl 167 

Star, child's first impression of 288 

Stratagem and deception in family government 45 

Stones by the wayside, objects of interest 174 

Stones in the walls 174 

Stj'Ie of living as an occasion of vanity and pride 88 

Success in life, early preparation for ^ 9 

Sun, the first object by which to convey the idea of God . . 281 

Sun, illustrating what a parent should be 53 

Swapping among boys 97 

Sympathy wanted by the infant 153 

Table, children at 127 

Tasteful dress for a child 88 

Temper of a child injured by over-eating 86 

Temper, irritability of, in parent and child 123 

Things not to be touched by a child 152 

Things should go with words in teaching a child to count . . 197 

Threat, horribly ludicrous 48 

Threatening, and not performing 47 

Throne, the strongest, in all the world; what it is ..... 8 

Time, faculty of, discipline in regard to 248 

Time wasted in talk 249 

Tour of the room by a child on all-fours 29 



368 • INDEX. 

Page. 

Trees, knowledge of 168 

Trying to govern, time foolishly spent in 44 

Turning over a new leaf by the mother 31 

Two beings who cannot be escaped 246 

Two individuals chosen out of a thousand millions .... 11 

Unimportant incidents, the use of, in training 234 

Unmannerly children at table 127 

Vanity in apparel 87 

Various aspects of Nature generally as to color ...... 165 

Vegetable appearances particularly 166 

Victoria and the royal heirs . 83 

Why people are so ignorant of Nature • . . 181 

Watts's Divine Songs 309 

Weight, faculty of, how cultivated . . . .• 161 

Well-governed child, how happy he is 44 

Wild youth, whither sent for correction 32 

Willis, extract from a poem of 288 

Witness in a court-room 219 

Where family order or disorder usually begins 28 

Whipping, with what spirit it should be done, if necessary . . 50 

Who most benefited by a favor 66 

Wonder, a faculty of the child exercised in respect to the 

miracles and life of Jesus 339 

Word of God, its vitalizing and uplifting influence 351 

Worker, the Infinite One 105 

Worship, social, domestic, and public 317 

Worship, philosophy of 313 

Worth of character, admirable example in respect to ... . 90 

Wrong-doer sent to bed in the daytime 52 



Boston : Printed by John Wilson & Son. 



3477 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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